In the 1980s Mexico did have a severe earthquake that I think killed at least 10,000. In 1956 or ‘57 I was studying in Mexico City. At 1 am I was walking home from a party with a friend when I started to stagger. I said to my friend from San Diego, but I only had 2 drinks. He looked around, said “earthquake,” grabbed my hand and we ran to stand in the middle of the intersection away from the buildings and the electric wires swaying and clattering in the air above. This was a 7.5 and the worst in around 50 years. Fortunately fewer than 200 people died. For almost a minute we stood there holding each other as the ground swayed back and forth and around. It was like riding on a fast moving New York sub with nothing to hold on to.
When I got back to a shared apartment, one housemate said the living room chandelier was swaying so hard it hit the ceiling on one side, and then the ceiling on the other side over and over. The guy living upstairs said he was thrown out of bed while asleep. The live in maid was huddled in a pile of the next day’s laundry under the sturdy dining room table. The next day I saw a building under construction that had pancaked from 8 floors to 2. A big office building had cracks in all it’s windows. The Social Security building across from my apartment had split into the 3 parts as it had been designed to do. One split was 3 feet wide.
I’m glad it was not like the one in the 1980s. Mexico is probably overdue for one soon. The solid gold victory statue on top of a column centered in a traffic circle had fallen. It was gold plated, big scandal. A new apartment building financially connected with a popular Mexican actor collapsed, killing over 100, big scandal.
Amazing. Glad you came thru safely. You could dine out on those stories forever.
I’ve never knowingly been in one but I did get to San Francisco just after they’d had a bad one. The building I was visiting was one of those designed to divide, when necessary, and you could see down to the floor below. Books everywhere.
Grandfather was in SF during The Big One. Grandmother was involved with sending supplies from their town. He was fine. She slipped on the train steps and did in her leg.
Thank you for pinging me to your stories. Very exciting experiences, although not the kind of excitement anyone would hope for.
My father, mother, sister and I made two three week car trips through Mexico when I was 14 (’69) and 17 (’71). They were fun, educational and in a few instances rather scary.
Mexico City was an exciting place. I remember the traffic circle you mentioned very well. Huge with many lanes but I don’t think lanes were actually marked. Somewhat of a free for all but if you missed the street you wanted to get off on you could just keep circling until you got an opening.