We explain everything about the 1985 earthquake of Mexico, its main causes, consequences and general characteristics.
How was Mexico’s earthquake in 1985?
The 1985 Mexican earthquake was a Seismic movement took place on Thursday, September 19, 1985 From 7:17 (local time) and whose epicenter was located on the Mexican coast of the Pacific Ocean, in the state of Michoacán.
The earthquake reached a magnitude of 8.1 and was the most destructive and deadly in the history of Mexico. It affected numerous cities in the center, south and west of the country, including Mexico City, and surpassed the 1957 earthquake that had until then the greatest earthquake suffered in the region.
The direct consequences of the 1985 earthquake were catastrophic in terms of fatal victims, injured, destroyed infrastructure and the subsequent difficulties of reconstruction. The next day, a replica of similar magnitude devastated structures already weakened by the first movement.
The earthquake It was particularly harmful to Mexico City Capital of the Republic, due to the characteristics of the land on which it had been built.
The magnitude of the earthquake of Mexico
The earthquake of September 19, 1985 reached a magnitude of 8.1 and It lasts for almost four minutes . It was produced by contact between the tectonic coconut and North America plates in a subduction zone.
He started at 7:17 with epicenter near the mouth of the Balsas River between the states of Michoacán and Guerrero, and a depth of 15 km. He shook the states of Michoacán, Jalisco, Guerrero and Mexico City. In the latter he felt at 7:19.
The replicas of the earthquake of Mexico
The earthquake had several replicas. The most important of all happened the next day that is, on Friday, September 20, at 7:37 p.m. and with a magnitude of 7.6, with an epicenter in Zihuatanejo, in the state of Guerrero. In addition to aggravating the damage of the previous day, this earthquake produced a tidal in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo.
Another replica occurred on April 30, 1986 with a magnitude of 7.0 and epicenter in the state of Michoacán. Strikingly, on September 19, 2022 there was an important earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 in Michoacán, which affected several areas (including Mexico City) and coincided with the date of the first earthquake of 1985. The same day but of 2017, an earthquake in Puebla with a magnitude of 7.1 also affects the capital city. However, these episodes had no geological relationship with the 1985 earthquake.
Victims and damage to the earthquake of Mexico
The total number of victims and injuries of the 1985 earthquake is unknown. The official death figure was initially 3692, but then the official sources They estimated between 6000 and 7,000 people killed. Subsequent calculations suggested that the figure could reach 10,000 people, and other unofficial figures point to even greater numbers. The destruction of hospitals due to the earthquake, especially in Mexico City, prevented the attention of injured in many cases.
Among those who survived, it is estimated that there were 30,000 injured and 250,000 victims who were homeless of which tens of thousands had to stay in camps and temporary shelters. Rescue work lasted for more than a month, and the removal of debris continued up to ten years after the earthquake.
Material damage was estimated at more than 4000 million US dollars. Mexico City was specially affected by landslides, because it was largely built on a dry lake. More than 400 buildings collapsed and thousands were damaged . The city was an incommunicado time, without electricity or telephone system.
The absence of immediate government measures generated a feeling of helplessness among the population, which had to organize itself . All this, added to the initial rejection of the President of the Republic, Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado, to receive international aid, weakened the public image of the government.
The rescue of the victims
The first rescue tasks were carried out by the city’s own inhabitants who took care of searching and recovering people buried under the rubble and distributing supplies. Those who lived in less affected regions moved to critical areas to offer their help.
Subsequently, firefighters, police and armed forces were mobilized, although The Government of the Republic was accused of acting slowly . The president initially rejected the offer of humanitarian aid of international organizations, but soon had to be retracted and accept.
Rescue work They extended until weeks after the initial earthquake . People alive could be extracted from the debris of the buildings destroyed up to 10 days after the earthquake. The total rescued survivors were approximately 4000 people.
The lifeless bodies found were so many, and the work to recover them extended for so long, that As of September 22, they were allocated to common graves In local cemeteries.
Initially They had been transferred to various city delegations but these were collapsed due to the number of victims, and a baseball stadium began to be used (in the current Delta Park), where formalin, lime and ice were used to delay the decomposition of the bodies that remained without recognizing.
Humanitarian aid during the earthquake in Mexico
The collaboration of various countries to deal with the disaster was numerous: until mid -October 1985 they had traveled to Mexico 220 flights from 37 different countries With food, equipment, rescue tents, clothing, first aid material and voluntary staff. The rescue material received added between September 20 and October 9, 1336 tons.
The administration of humanitarian aid by the government of Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado was a cause for suspicion and criticism, due to Irregular distribution accusations and poor administration.
For this reason, on October 3, the Supervisory Committee of the donations destined for the attention of the victims and reconstruction of the affected areas was created, with the aim of ensuring the correct distribution of donations.
The earthquake left a balance of 250,000 victims . Among them, more than 30,000 were relocated in camps. These camps were so numerous that in 2015 some could be found. Lost jobs are calculated between 150,000 and 200,000, and the number of buildings destroyed in the city was approximately 400 (including hospitals and schools). This meant about 30,000 housing destroyed and almost 70,000 partially damaged.
The Mexican government had been dragging an external debt and a critical economic situation that worsened with this catastrophe. Material losses were estimated at more than 4000 million dollars (with a cost for the economy of more than 8000 million dollars). At the end of 1985, the international price of oil fell, one of Mexico’s main exports, so the resources to rebuild the capital and generate employment were scarce. Still in the 1990s there were some ruined buildings in Mexico City.
In addition to material costs, numerous situations of depression, collective psychosis, sleep disorders, posttraumatic stress and reactions of guilt or aggressiveness that required the intervention of more than a thousand trainers of the Coordination of Psychiatry and Mental Health of the Mexican Social Security Institute.
Political consequences of the earthquake in Mexico
The climate of disorganization that characterized the early hours of rescue work and the slow and poor governmental management of the situation, They produced a lot of rejection of the management of the ruling party (Institutional Revolutionary Party, PRI).
Before the initial inaction of the Government of Miguel de la Madrid, the citizens (especially in Mexico City) organized in a movement of voluntary rescue actions that wove networks of collective solidarity and strengthening of community ties.
Shortly after the earthquake, the first protest movements that demanded better care conditions housing and basic services spaces.
It was created The Single Damnified Coordinator (CUD) organism that nucleated the demands of numerous groups of affected neighbors and that, gradually, constituted a set of popular protest and citizen organization movements that acquired political and social importance.
Due to the pressure of these groups, the government was forced to expropriate some of the destroyed properties and build there New homes for the victims for which he had the financial support of the World Bank.
Before the climate of social discontent and criticism of the ruling party, in 1986 An electoral reform was promoted that modernized the suffrage system and facilitated the participation of minority opposition political parties in the presidential elections of 1988.
Legal consequences of the Mexico earthquake
The analyzes after the earthquake allowed to determine that Most of the collapsed buildings were of recent manufacture (30 years) while the main structures of previous centuries endured the onslaught.
Many of the buildings that collapsed They showed inappropriate structures to erect themselves on clay terrain like the one that characterized the land of the most affected areas of Mexico City.
This fact presented the absence of specific regulations that would take into account the condition of the land for the construction of buildings, and also the existence of numerous irregularities that pointed to poor planning and to the endorsement of local authorities for the breach of regulations by the builders.
However, There were no judgments against builders not even against the state company that had been responsible for the construction of schools.
From the earthquake, The laws for building construction were hardented according to regulations to resist telluric movement. In addition, institutions were created to prevent and mitigate the effects of earthquakes, a network of seismic wave sensors was established and protocols were implemented that include simulacros.
Commemorative sites
At present, the victims of the 1985 earthquake are commemorated in three sites in Mexico City: The Plaza de la Solidaridad, located on a property whose buildings were falling apart during the earthquake ; The Parque del Sol, built in the place where the Nuevo León building was in Tlatelolco; And the seamstress monument, adjacent to the premises of the Association of Seams and Seamstresses September 19, reminiscent of the more than six hundred workers who died buried in the workshops of the area.
References
- “Mexico City Earthquake of 1985” in British Encyclopedia.
- “1985 earthquake: the devastating earthquake that changed the face of Mexico City” forever “in BBC News Mundo.
- “Large earthquakes” in national seismological service. National Autonomous University of Mexico.
- “History of Mexico” von Wobeser, G. (coord.) (2014). Economic Culture Fund.
