Mexico, Tenancingo Degollado, : 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.

https://youtu.be/2fAQ5wEiIo8


    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.