Earthquakes don't have names like hurricanes. Earthquakes are sudden events that rumble up and out of the earth like the fatal indigestion of the devil. Hurricanes are born at sea, go through an adolescence, an adulthood, and death. They are with us for a while like a short lived person. The naming of hurricanes goes back several centuries. Naming an earthquake would happen after the fact which can be devastating.
The earth quake that hit Mexico on September the 19th devastated many dwellings, churches, and landmarks. Five houses in a row, for instance, in Tenancingo, an entire block in Joquicingo, scores of old churches, thousands and thousands of adobe houses here and there built 100 years ago. It didn't flatten everything but skipped a block or two inflicting damage unequally. Why?
Earthquake damage is related to nearness to the epicenter, geology, type and quality of construction, and frequencies of the waves produced at the epicenter. They say this one affected short structures and spared taller buildings because of the type of the frequecies. Mexico City is always vulnerable because it sits on a bowl of geologic jello which amplifies earthquake movement. The adobe houses and the churches damaged in the quake have been around for a while. Some adobes over 200 years and some churches over 500. They have felt the earth move before and survived. Why did the quake damage some communities far worse than others?
I have a short curly haired dog named Tuza. She was drinking out of the fountain the other day. I watched the waves she made with her lapping. When they hit the opposite rim of the fountain they rippled faster. Tuza would change position as she lapped and the waves that met the rim might wiggle more to the left or more to the right depending on Tuza's position. Mexico's topography is wild. Deep valleys and tall mountains. Could they act as the rim of my fountain repelling different types of waves from earthquakes helter skelter. Could this account for the severe damage experienced by certain communities while others were more "spared".
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Seventh and Nineteenth of September 2017. The Days the Earth Didn't Standstill
The night of September 7th I was awakened by a rocking motion and the sound of rhythmic rattling. Doors moved on their own, creaking and tictocking, marking time to the churning waves that were traveling through a sea of dirt and rock. It was a soft movement, like that of a hammock,, a typical earthquake in Tenancingo. It didn't seem serious like most of the earthquakes I have experienced for the last fifteen years except that it lasted almost two minutes. When it finished I fell sleep. Early the next morning when I entered the kitchen to make a cup of coffee I noticed that all the drawers were agape. I checked the news and discovered that the quake had registered 8.2 and had devastated parts of Oaxaca and Chiapas. We are 1000 kilometers from the epicenter which was located off the coast of Chiapas where the Cocos and the American Plates are doing battle.
Twelve days later in the afternoon of the 19th I went to my room to package some items which were to be sent to the U.S. . That room, on the second floor, is far from the stairway. At 1:14 PM the world suddenly began to move, a machine gun rapid rattling bap bap bap bap. Items above my desk were wildly dancing. I got to the hallway and saw my employees in the parking lot. Looking down the length of the hotel I saw the entire building was moving like a snake. I wanted to run but the earthquake tossed me about like a ragdoll. I turned and saw a brick decorative crest on the house across the street tumble to the pavement and their 2500 liter water tank tip over creating a river that cascaded down the roof. In the distance the microwave tower swayed. I tried to remember the triangle of life survival technique. Place yourself on the edge of something. When the collapse comes you are in a void of safety.
I was distracted,,suspended by the power of it all. I remember thinking I just wish it would end. The stairway in the distance seemed an impossibility but I began to run towards it like a drunk and when I reached it I scurried down and joined the frightened employees in the parking lot. The quake finally diminished. I saw a part of our wall that had collapsed onto the small house of a neighbor. We were calling to him hoping he was not inside under the rubble.
This was a scary experience, as if the Puppet Master was having a seizure during the show. Paintings fell
off the wall, glasses and clay pots broke, and all kinds of objects fell
over. If you have never experienced such an event it is difficult to imagine the power of a major earthquake. A
friend in Mexico City told me some scientist has made a connection
between sunspots and quakes. There are some active spots at this time.
Supposedly, but who knows, he predicted this earthquake and claimed
there would be another major event on the 23rd. I looked him up and it seems he doesn't exist. Just another "earthquack". An exhaustive study made by scientists from India found a
connection between the phases of the moon and earthquakes. It isn't a
connection 100% of the time but most earthquakes happen when the
moon is full or near full. The moon was near full on the 7th,,for the Chiapas temblor,, but
invisible on the 19th,, yet perhaps the earthquake on the 7th was a reaction to the larger one in Chiapas.
The link below, which is a compilation of recordings made during the quake, might give one an idea. Stll though, the helplessness is more difficult to convey.
We have been helping a little removing debris in two different communities, Tecomatlan and San Martin. People come who are not connected with any government agency bringing shovels and picks and cooked food. Their efforts and the efforts of many others who are removing debris have restored my faith in mankind. I hope that lasts. There are these disturbing images I take away from these distressed communities and then at the end of the day I return to the house with a stove, refrigerator, and a bed,, for example an image of an 85 year old woman under a tarp without anything really. An elderly couple on a hillside sitting on the platform on two salvaged chairs where their house had once been. His foot had been opened by an adobe brick during the quake and was being sewed up by paramedics. They say in Tenancingo and around 2000 houses have suffered serious damage,, and we are far from the epicenter. There is an almost constant line of tractor trailers with food and water, and dump trucks laden with debris. Centers have been set up distributing donated clothes.
I am very proud of Mexico. It has shown its heart. They are not a hoarde of rapeists or theives as one claimed. Mexicans have organized themselves without formal leaders. They enter a community, first assessing then locating problems. Groups are formed that remove debris. Human chains passing material to the street or to another place like the thousands of roof tiles we moved in San Martin perhaps to be used again. No one was really prepared for the scope of the damage. Perhaps they should have been better equipped but at this moment I don't want to second guess anyone. What I have seen though is something pure,, an improvised force of will and conscience that just appeared. They are a mostly young energetic army with the determination to help their country. I hope someone can harness that power for the next step,,, rebuilding. I wonder how that will play out.
I have been thoroughly scared and filled with apprehension that another seismic event might happen again at any moment. It haunts like a phantom. On the 23rd of September at 8:00 AM I saw the water in the fountain sloshing back and forth. Another sismo of 6.1 had arrived, centered in Oaxaca. It was almost imperceptible here except for the fountain water and the gently swaying lamps.
Sept 7th 2017
Sept 19th 2017
Church in Puebla where 15 people died during a baptism
Tenancingo
Basilica San Clemente Tenancingo
Basilica San Clemente Tenancingo. During the assesment masses are being held in an auditorium
Mexico City
Jojutla, Morelos
Jojutla, Morelos
Joquicingo near Tenancingo
Tenancingo
Tenancingo
Tenancingo
Joquicingo
Joquicingo
Tecomatlan
Tecomatlan
Tecomatlan Calle Independencia
Tecomatlan cleaning up an adobe house
Tecomatlan
Tecomatlan
Friday, September 15, 2017
What Terrorism Accomplishes
My cousin wrote me a while ago to discuss a visit to Mexico. In her letter she expressed angst over the danger one might encounter in a trip south of the border. It seems all the news North Americans receive about Mexico emphasizes the violence. Decapitations and quartered bodies from countless coast to coast turf wars litter the streets,,, a sight as common as roosters and hens but that is not a fair representation of this country. The fotos below indicate just a little of the richness of Mexico, a richness that eternally defies bad news.
My cousin ended her letter describing an anxiety closer to home. She mentioned the fear of many in the US of riding the subways or going into tunnels. My knee jerk reaction was that it seemed an irrational fear given the risk of heart disease in, let's say, eating gobs of manufactured trans fats and sacks of sugar. Why is it that some North American friends will proudly buy their teenage daughter a car, or have sex with someone an hour into the first date without a condom, or drive from New York to Connecticut to buy a powerball ticket oblivious to the real odds,,yet they are afraid of a terrorist act in a tunnel. From where does this unquestioned security bubble come?
Strangely Secure
Security has always been an issue in the US. If you don't believe me look at the commercials on the NFL Channel. It's all about selling insurance and flashlights that blind intruders, yet security is not something one purchases for $9.99. Security is something that comes from within,, a result of the confidence gleaned from having built a strong identity, cultivating skeptical vigilence, all the while loving the world around you. Jesus at his best may be a good example.
I couldn't help but think that terrorism has accomplished its goals. In surveys terrorism perpetrated by religious fanatics,, muslims in particular, ranks as one of the top concerns of North Americans, ironically in second place after corrupt officials. Terrorists, whether they commit heinous acts in New York or Paris, have goals. Their aim is not to topple a regime by a massive invasion but to employ random acts of violence that intimidate the population and in turn cause chaos and doubt in those regimes. Terrorists stir the "comfort pot" creating widespread fear, weakening society's resolve, disrupt economic movement, and manufacturing doubt in the capacity of government to protect its citizens. Terrorist acts provoke government over-reaction that evidences itself in the form of authoritarian laws that in turn erode the most cherished freedoms.There is a dread of the fanatic religious alien in our midst,,, a dark person,, from a different tribe,,, not judeo christian,,, and that speaks a strange language. The apprehension surrounding of what this unorthodox individual is capable has corroded public confidence in most institutions, yet those institutions have found that they can use that lack of confidence as a tool to regain power and to manipulate public opinion. Often as a result, a war is begun, some rights, and some priviledges are taken away, and everyone strangely feels more secure.
I don't wish to diminish the grave results of loathsome terrorist acts and there are plenty from which to choose like the The Yazdi community bombings, 9/11, the Pulse Nightclub attack in Orlando, Florida, the Beslan School hostage crisis, Paris nightclub massacre, and the Cinema Rex fire in Iran. These acts have irrevocably affected society and the lives of the survivors. How should society react to these atrocities. Do acts that are perpetrated by religious fanatics hold more weight than those of Timmothy McVeigh, Sandy Hook, or Basque Separists? Do these acts carry less weight because they are perpetrated by those that resemble us. Are foreign wars to root out terrorists the correct courses of action? Is Islam a violent religion? Should governments make every effort necessary to destroy the breeding grounds of terrorism? And where are those hatcheries? In Saudi Arabia or in Iraq.? Are there real risks to the survival of western culture in allowing jihadist acts to harden government and further consume society's worthy attributes?
Thomas Mann said: “Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil.” Socrates said: “There is only one good, knowledge,, and one evil,, ignorance.” From which of these statements can we derive a plan for society's self preservation,, the crime of tolerance or an attempt to understand? Is the fear of a glassy eyed foreign fanatic lurking behind every bush a real concern or has it been carefully cultivated? Is a cumbrous never ending media campaign that assails us with inflated accounts of danger responsible? Has our reason been compromised by propaganda? When reason is cloaked by the repetition of lies anything is possible,,,, costly foreign wars,,, and erosion of our own precious freedoms when governments "react" to the terrorist threat. Americans clearly need an alternative to the main stream media. Is terroeism a threat to the roots of our civilization, or is it hynosisi induced hypochondria. Is the boogey man at the very threshold, or is it all just the result of never ending evolutionary process that tends to kill its own increase?
One cannot speak of terrorism without mentioning the role of United States. The U.S. is not an innocent party to terrorist acts yet this fact has been relegated to the deep freeze. It carries a heavy historical mantle of imperiouness by having backed terrorism throughout the world, either directly or through its client states. Public opinion is molded, and enemies are created.This insures pretexts for invasions such as Vietnam, Granada, Iraq, or Afghanistan. This does not count the damage from many proxy wars that happen because of U.S. backed dictatorships. El Salvador, Nicaragua, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Phillipines, Indonesia,Guatemala, Chile,,,,,to name a few, have suffered incredibly at the hands of U.S. desire to control governments and their resources.
Does the above paragraph mean that Mexico off the hook? I think not.
Having moved to Mexico right after 9/11 has protected me from having to deal with the threat of Islamic terrorism. Mexico has not been a victim of that version of terror. There are other forms of terror at work here. In Mexico the government, the police, the army, narcos, and business cartels can take on the role of terrorists. Tlatelolco, Acteal, San Salvador San Salvador Atenco, and Ayotzinapa are some examples. Another is the war on journalists. Mexico is #1 in the world in assasinations of journalists. Open your mouth too wide and someone will put a gun in it or an influential politician will blacklist you. This devastates even a feeble attempt at democracy. Killing journalists creates a paralysing reticence to reveal what is happening and leaves the general population with Televisa's (Television Of The State) safe version of the world in which parochial fashion conscious TV personalities who are incapacitated by their alliances. Instead of investigation they play "look who I am with today". Killing students or campesinos is a terrorism that affirms the status of power.
I think of Thomas Mann's novel, The Magic mountain,, a rich story that struggles to understand the human condition. There are two prominent talented adversarial characters in the book, one a jesuit communist Leo Naphta and the other, Ludovico Settembrini, a humanist freemason capitalist. They are both idealogues. They argue at length, almost too beautifully, about the best social structure for mankind. After a while one does not know who to believe, Settembrini or Naphta. Settembrini stands for the ideals of Western civilization, the Renaissance, and Enlightenment, in short, reason, individual liberty, humanism, tolerance, nationalism, and progress.These are supposedly capitalist virtues. On the other hand Naphta always demonstrates a love of extremes and contempt for all forms of compromise. He defends the Inquisition and the authoritarian aspects of Catholicism and communism. He loathes the bourgeoise state and sees it as weak. Strength and societal control are the only answer to what he sees as a liberal plague gone beserk. I could be in both Naphta and Settembrini's camp at the same time.
In a dispute with Settembrini Naphta argues: "The heroic age that wrested your ideals came to an end long ago. Those ideals are dead or at best are twitching in their death throes, and those whom they had hoped to finish off have got their foot in the door again". Announcing his own political credo, Naphta says: "The mystery and precept of our age is not liberation and development of the ego. What our age needs, what it will create for itself,, is terror." Naphta doesn't mean the random terror of religious fanatics but the terror of an severely authoritarian state, the only structure from which order will come.
Settembrini states: “What have you against analysis?’ Nothing—when it serves the cause of enlightenment, freedom, progress. Everything when it is pervaded by the horrible haut goût of the grave. And thus too with the body. We are to honour and uphold the body when it is a question of emancipation, of beauty, of freedom of thought, of joy, of desire. We must despise it in so far as it sets itself up as the principle of gravity and inertia, when it obstructs the movement toward light; we must despise it in so far as it represents the principle of disease and death, in so far as its specific essence is the essence of perversity, of decay, sensuality, and shame.”
It's like Camille Paglia and Chris Hedges sparring,,, but really the novel is better than that matchup.
By the way my cousin never came for she feared for her security.
My cousin ended her letter describing an anxiety closer to home. She mentioned the fear of many in the US of riding the subways or going into tunnels. My knee jerk reaction was that it seemed an irrational fear given the risk of heart disease in, let's say, eating gobs of manufactured trans fats and sacks of sugar. Why is it that some North American friends will proudly buy their teenage daughter a car, or have sex with someone an hour into the first date without a condom, or drive from New York to Connecticut to buy a powerball ticket oblivious to the real odds,,yet they are afraid of a terrorist act in a tunnel. From where does this unquestioned security bubble come?
Strangely Secure
Security has always been an issue in the US. If you don't believe me look at the commercials on the NFL Channel. It's all about selling insurance and flashlights that blind intruders, yet security is not something one purchases for $9.99. Security is something that comes from within,, a result of the confidence gleaned from having built a strong identity, cultivating skeptical vigilence, all the while loving the world around you. Jesus at his best may be a good example.
I couldn't help but think that terrorism has accomplished its goals. In surveys terrorism perpetrated by religious fanatics,, muslims in particular, ranks as one of the top concerns of North Americans, ironically in second place after corrupt officials. Terrorists, whether they commit heinous acts in New York or Paris, have goals. Their aim is not to topple a regime by a massive invasion but to employ random acts of violence that intimidate the population and in turn cause chaos and doubt in those regimes. Terrorists stir the "comfort pot" creating widespread fear, weakening society's resolve, disrupt economic movement, and manufacturing doubt in the capacity of government to protect its citizens. Terrorist acts provoke government over-reaction that evidences itself in the form of authoritarian laws that in turn erode the most cherished freedoms.There is a dread of the fanatic religious alien in our midst,,, a dark person,, from a different tribe,,, not judeo christian,,, and that speaks a strange language. The apprehension surrounding of what this unorthodox individual is capable has corroded public confidence in most institutions, yet those institutions have found that they can use that lack of confidence as a tool to regain power and to manipulate public opinion. Often as a result, a war is begun, some rights, and some priviledges are taken away, and everyone strangely feels more secure.
I don't wish to diminish the grave results of loathsome terrorist acts and there are plenty from which to choose like the The Yazdi community bombings, 9/11, the Pulse Nightclub attack in Orlando, Florida, the Beslan School hostage crisis, Paris nightclub massacre, and the Cinema Rex fire in Iran. These acts have irrevocably affected society and the lives of the survivors. How should society react to these atrocities. Do acts that are perpetrated by religious fanatics hold more weight than those of Timmothy McVeigh, Sandy Hook, or Basque Separists? Do these acts carry less weight because they are perpetrated by those that resemble us. Are foreign wars to root out terrorists the correct courses of action? Is Islam a violent religion? Should governments make every effort necessary to destroy the breeding grounds of terrorism? And where are those hatcheries? In Saudi Arabia or in Iraq.? Are there real risks to the survival of western culture in allowing jihadist acts to harden government and further consume society's worthy attributes?
Thomas Mann said: “Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil.” Socrates said: “There is only one good, knowledge,, and one evil,, ignorance.” From which of these statements can we derive a plan for society's self preservation,, the crime of tolerance or an attempt to understand? Is the fear of a glassy eyed foreign fanatic lurking behind every bush a real concern or has it been carefully cultivated? Is a cumbrous never ending media campaign that assails us with inflated accounts of danger responsible? Has our reason been compromised by propaganda? When reason is cloaked by the repetition of lies anything is possible,,,, costly foreign wars,,, and erosion of our own precious freedoms when governments "react" to the terrorist threat. Americans clearly need an alternative to the main stream media. Is terroeism a threat to the roots of our civilization, or is it hynosisi induced hypochondria. Is the boogey man at the very threshold, or is it all just the result of never ending evolutionary process that tends to kill its own increase?
One cannot speak of terrorism without mentioning the role of United States. The U.S. is not an innocent party to terrorist acts yet this fact has been relegated to the deep freeze. It carries a heavy historical mantle of imperiouness by having backed terrorism throughout the world, either directly or through its client states. Public opinion is molded, and enemies are created.This insures pretexts for invasions such as Vietnam, Granada, Iraq, or Afghanistan. This does not count the damage from many proxy wars that happen because of U.S. backed dictatorships. El Salvador, Nicaragua, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Phillipines, Indonesia,Guatemala, Chile,,,,,to name a few, have suffered incredibly at the hands of U.S. desire to control governments and their resources.
Does the above paragraph mean that Mexico off the hook? I think not.
Having moved to Mexico right after 9/11 has protected me from having to deal with the threat of Islamic terrorism. Mexico has not been a victim of that version of terror. There are other forms of terror at work here. In Mexico the government, the police, the army, narcos, and business cartels can take on the role of terrorists. Tlatelolco, Acteal, San Salvador San Salvador Atenco, and Ayotzinapa are some examples. Another is the war on journalists. Mexico is #1 in the world in assasinations of journalists. Open your mouth too wide and someone will put a gun in it or an influential politician will blacklist you. This devastates even a feeble attempt at democracy. Killing journalists creates a paralysing reticence to reveal what is happening and leaves the general population with Televisa's (Television Of The State) safe version of the world in which parochial fashion conscious TV personalities who are incapacitated by their alliances. Instead of investigation they play "look who I am with today". Killing students or campesinos is a terrorism that affirms the status of power.
I think of Thomas Mann's novel, The Magic mountain,, a rich story that struggles to understand the human condition. There are two prominent talented adversarial characters in the book, one a jesuit communist Leo Naphta and the other, Ludovico Settembrini, a humanist freemason capitalist. They are both idealogues. They argue at length, almost too beautifully, about the best social structure for mankind. After a while one does not know who to believe, Settembrini or Naphta. Settembrini stands for the ideals of Western civilization, the Renaissance, and Enlightenment, in short, reason, individual liberty, humanism, tolerance, nationalism, and progress.These are supposedly capitalist virtues. On the other hand Naphta always demonstrates a love of extremes and contempt for all forms of compromise. He defends the Inquisition and the authoritarian aspects of Catholicism and communism. He loathes the bourgeoise state and sees it as weak. Strength and societal control are the only answer to what he sees as a liberal plague gone beserk. I could be in both Naphta and Settembrini's camp at the same time.
In a dispute with Settembrini Naphta argues: "The heroic age that wrested your ideals came to an end long ago. Those ideals are dead or at best are twitching in their death throes, and those whom they had hoped to finish off have got their foot in the door again". Announcing his own political credo, Naphta says: "The mystery and precept of our age is not liberation and development of the ego. What our age needs, what it will create for itself,, is terror." Naphta doesn't mean the random terror of religious fanatics but the terror of an severely authoritarian state, the only structure from which order will come.
Settembrini states: “What have you against analysis?’ Nothing—when it serves the cause of enlightenment, freedom, progress. Everything when it is pervaded by the horrible haut goût of the grave. And thus too with the body. We are to honour and uphold the body when it is a question of emancipation, of beauty, of freedom of thought, of joy, of desire. We must despise it in so far as it sets itself up as the principle of gravity and inertia, when it obstructs the movement toward light; we must despise it in so far as it represents the principle of disease and death, in so far as its specific essence is the essence of perversity, of decay, sensuality, and shame.”
It's like Camille Paglia and Chris Hedges sparring,,, but really the novel is better than that matchup.
By the way my cousin never came for she feared for her security.
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