Major Earthquake for Mexico City Falls on Anniversary of Catastrophic 1985 Quake

In striking the Mexican capital, the killer quake could not have chosen a more vulnerable target. Mexico City is at the heart of the world’s most populous metropolitan area. Some 18 million people, a fourth of the nation’s inhabitants, are jammed into a mere 890 sq. mi., or roughly 1% of the predominantly rural country’s land area. By one estimate, nearly a third of all families in Mexico City huddle together in a single room — and the average family has five members.

Beyond the human density, the capital has a shaky geological base that makes it especially susceptible to earthquakes. Mexico City is built on the soft, moist sediment of an ancient lake bed; when jolted, says Caltech Earthquake Expert George W. Housner, it reacts “like a bowl of jelly.” The city has, in fact, been sinking into its soft base at up to 10 in. annually. The drop has been uneven, creating a tilt in some foundations, thus placing those buildings at greater peril than others when the earth begins to rumble.

“I thought I was sick,” she said. “There was this terrible dizzy feeling. Some way, I stumbled to the doorway. The buildings across the street were swaying, really swaying. It was like being rocked in a boat. There were all these sounds of cracking and crackling, and the electric lines popping. I yelled out, ‘God save me!’ ” The quake knocked many of the city’s radio and television stations off the air. One exception was Channel 13, which provided the world with the first images of the disaster. A young man who did not give his name tearfully told a Channel 13 interviewer that he heard “a tremendous noise, and I grabbed my daughter and jumped out the window of my apartment. Everything was being twisted. I was trapped in the ruins with my daughter, but we were rescued. I had no chance to help my wife, who was killed when she was buried by the rubble.”