Some of these buildings were ready to fall down and they were dangerous. One is that 20,000 people had died, because he counted the number of buildings times what he assumed was the occupancy of each building, and it was clear that most people in those buildings would not survive. What could possibly be achieved by the First Lady’s going to Mexico except inconveniencing the Mexicans at a time of national disorder and stress and grieving and all the rest of it and getting some photo-ops for Nancy Reagan? Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Government or of ADST. I think I went home at 4:00AM and came back at 6:00 AM. We convinced him not to; another small task accomplished. On the other position. The 8.1-magnitude quake struck Mexico City on Sept. 19, 1985, followed by a 7.5-magnitude aftershock one day later. Within the next couple hours, we made sure the local Mexican staff was ok. I went back inside the Embassy and upstairs to my fourth floor office after the twenty minutes like I had planned. The earthquake lasted around three minutes causing older buildings and poorly constructed infrastructure to fall. “Here come the Americans to blow up our Mexican buildings.” Would it work? As well, the tremors led to gas mains to break causing fires and explosions throughout Mexico City. But we did worry that it wouldn’t go right and we’d kill some Mexicans standing and gawking. Making matters worse, on the evening of September 20, a magnitude 7.5 aftershock shook the region. But the Mexican people recognized how much the Americans helped by sending assistance and helping in the reconstruction. The day after the earthquake I was called at the NSC and asked how do you think the Mexicans would react to the First Lady coming to Mexico? Posted in Mexico City as a Minister Counselor for Public Affairs from 1985 to 1989, Ambassador Sally Grooms Cowal gives insight into some controversies surrounding Ambassador Gavin during her interview with Charles Stuart Kennedy beginning August 2001. With more than 16 million residents, the city had been growing at a ludicrous rate – over 4% annually through the 1970s, with a growth rate of close to 40% in the city’s periphery. We were trying to make them more professional, but they would editorialize right through that Gavin might have said there were 20,000 dead, but that couldn’t be the case because of whatever or whatever. The effects of the quake were particularly devastating because of the type of ground upon which the city sits. I remember Dan Rather telling the world that Mexico City was completely destroyed. Did you know? Tuesday's earthquake took place on the anniversary of a devastating earthquake that killed thousands in Mexico City in 1985. That quickly spread from earthquake-related things to environmentally related things, the fact that Mexico City was such a polluted city. The 1985 Mexico City earthquake: an excerpt from “Shooter” ... They’d built a lot of the new buildings in Mexico City, with the elevator in the center of the building to form a steel core like the rods in reinforced concrete. It turned out I was in charge of the Embassy. But early that morning, some lines were still open. Usually it was items that were needed, but sometimes Americans rush to clean out their basements and send whatever is available, and then they feel good and take a tax break. That was maybe for the first time really since the Aztecs, a questioning of the central authority and of the power structure, by individuals and by groups of nongovernmental organizations, civil society, that really began to emerge. Minister Counselor for Public Affairs in Mexico City from 1985 to 1989. One threatened to jump off the balcony because of some issue. Counselor for Public Affairs in Mexico City from 1978 to 1983. I am sure the implosions, which were successful, saved many lives. 5,000–45,000 dead 30,000 injured The 1985 Mexico City Earthquakewas an earthquakethat happened in Mexico Cityon September 19, 1985. PASTORINO: Between the governments it probably didn’t. The government’s response to the tragedy was unthinkable. But then I began to see the destruction from the windows and we began to get reports that parts of the city had been seriously damaged, with many major buildings downed. They were perturbed at the Ambassador’s estimate for some reason, but I am convinced the real total was closer to his estimate. Actually, that earthquake, and I think perhaps Gavin’s taking a very out-front role and really expressing the damage and so on, the follow up to that by the Mexican citizenry I think really led in some interesting and strange way to the ultimate defeat of the PRI several years later. The Mexicans were profoundly dilatory about taking us up on our offers of help, and she wasn’t going to solve that problem. Most of the damage was focused on the historic downtown area of Cuauhtémoc. But then they reached the sandy loam of the lake bed underneath the center of Mexico City. The Embassy had a telephone network, in which everyone calls everyone else in a certain order. Mexican President Miguel de la Madrid declared a period of mourning starting from September 20. If she wanted to go to sleep it would have been in view of the elements. I didn’t think that was very strange. It shook for thirty or forty seconds. There was a huge controversy. Earthquake shakes Mexico City On September 19, 1985, a powerful earthquake strikes Mexico City and leaves 10,000 people dead, 30,000 injured and thousands more homeless. It was not totally closed. The quake ruptured the San Andreas fault to the north and south of the city, for a total of 296 miles, and ...read more, On October 17, 1989, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake hit the San Francisco Bay Area, killing 67 people and causing more than $5 billion in damages. I really caught hell for that from the staff later because the Department neglected to tell anyone or inform our families. This is a city and urban area of 20 million people in the valley, of which seven or eight million people were directly affected by the loss of services; the loss of electricity, water, sewage facilities, all of which began to cause disease problems. Earthquakes are worse in mountains which of vibrate more than flat land. On September 19, 1985, the Mexico City area was struck by a devastating earthquake that killed at least 9,500 people. He may have been right, but being right was not necessarily the objective of diplomacy. The aftershock was almost as strong as the original quake and may have done even more damage outside of the city than the original shock had done. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! These was a great crowd of people milling around. A study in contrasts in american history study 1985 earthquake mexico city case. Mexico City Earthquake: September 19, 1985, 1985 Mexico City Earthquake: Slow Government Response. The earlier quake left behind a … I remember doing up the format. There was a very large earthquake in September of 1985. The airport runways were thought to be damaged on the first day. The quake was centered off the Pacific coast of Michoacán, more than 200 miles west of Mexico City, the nation’s capital. So I don’t know exactly, but we had 25,000 officially registered. It was still run totally by the PRI. The city has ...read more, From the stone cities of the Maya to the might of the Aztecs, from its conquest by Spain to its rise as a modern nation, Mexico boasts a rich history and cultural heritage spanning more than 10,000 years. On Sept. 19, 1985, an earthquake registering 8.1 on the Richter scale struck Mexico City. We had to take care of them. The 1985 Mexico City Earthquake was an earthquake that happened in Mexico City on September 19, 1985. Ambassador Gavin was taken up in a helicopter the day after the quake to survey the damage in order to get a sense of the assistance that would be needed. We coordinated with the embassy. Western Mexico is particularly vulnerable to earthquakes with the Pacific plate and Cocos plate moving against the North American plate actively. As an aftershock struck on September 20, the Mexican government then announced that it would be willing to accept help. On September 19, 1985, at 7:17 A.M., a Richter magnitude 8.1 earthquake occurred on the Pacific coast of Mexico. They would sometimes report his criticisms, but you would sort of lose the train of it before you got done. Yes, it was not the Soviet Union. A lot of people were saved that night by the digging, survivors being dug out minute by minute. Since I’d gone through earthquakes in San Francisco, and the big one in Caracas in our first assignment, I wasn’t scared or nervous. 2017 Puebla earthquake; Images for kids Kramer, a. Responses from the Mexican community and foreign governments came swiftly. MEXICO CITY -- Many things changed after the devastating September 19, 1985 earthquake, measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale, struck Mexico City. It was a Foreign Service Officer who had to load these sacks and take an airplane at night. The number of Mexicans who perished is still controversial and probably will never be known for certain. It was just awfully difficult to try to read it. Economic and Political Counselor. What you like fries and coke determine their prices. The president was saying that they had lost 10,000 people, and Gavin made a public statement that there were 20,000 or more who had died. As the National Security Council’s Staff Director for Latin America from 1985 to 1986, Ambassador G. Philip Hughes was involved in planning First Lady Nancy Reagan’s visit to Mexico City, which he questioned as being ill-timed; he was interviewed by Kennedy beginning August 1997. I went to the airport to meet the Chargé d’Affaires, Morris Busby, who was returning from Northern Mexico. It made it extremely difficult to read these stories or they would turn the story around. She was surrounded by this mob of people. I stayed in the Embassy the day and night of the first quake until about 4:00 a.m. We couldn’t allow too much more detail because of the difficulty of transmission and the number of telegrams, and then we couldn’t send them by the regular cable system because it was down. Stanley Zuckerman was a Counselor for Public Affairs for Mexico City from 1978 to 1983; he was interviewed by Kennedy beginning July 2004. I remember helping develop a security plan of where to put the police lines to keep the people an appropriate distance away. Research a process analysis for errors in causal analysis is however the magnitude and type of strategy is required. His Spanish was impeccable. There was one very frightening sight at Plaza de Tlateloco in Mexico City, where a large high-rise apartment building, probably a 15-story building, had just collapsed into a pile of bricks. Mexico certainly did not plan for earthquakes…. It was my job. I told the Mexican employees they could return home, if they thought it was necessary. I remember we let every American, tourist or resident, come to the Embassy and write a one-page telegram. Mexico City Earthquake, 1985. ©Copyright 1998-2021 Association for Diplomatic Studies & Training To this day I can’t remember a word I said. I said that the last thing in the world the Mexicans need is the First Lady coming to Mexico right now. Once there, the earthquake tremors caused the sediment layers to oscillate. The earthquake resulted in around $3 billion to $4 billion in damage. Its economic boom, known as the Mexican Miracle, encouraged heavy migration, and few politicians were eager to stem the flow of incoming labour with strict building cod… Ambassador Gavin was on his way to Europe on vacation and Deputy Chief of Mission [DCM] Morris Busby was in Northern Mexico on fisheries negotiations. Some people said later that I was too calm and didn’t appear very sympathetic. He landed and said to the press that he thought there might be more than 20,000 deaths. We weren’t even sure they would be able to be sent the first couple of days. It turned out later that one of his close friends, Placido Domingo, lost some of his family in a collapse of a twenty-five story building. I was quickly told that this was probably going to happen so it’s not a question of whether it is desirable or not, it is a question of making it happen. It was pandemonium. The digging went on amid continuing screams from within the fallen buildings. Most of them came in to the Embassy to work. He got a helicopter and he flew over and counted the number of buildings down, and many of them were apartment buildings. NARRATOR: When the earthquake occurred in 1985 the initial waves did in fact weaken as they approached the center of the country. Q: How many Americans were killed, do you know? I had been officially appointed by the DCM when he left, to be in charge. Ambassador Gavin went to see Placido Domingo and his relatives for instance at a building that was destroyed so he could console surviving family members. The event was televised nationwide and in those parts of Mexico City which had electricity. Some people found it a difficult place to live then, and in certain aspects — traffic, noise, congestion, smog — it was. To this day, Embassy people remember that event and the talk I gave. People were all over the First Lady. His mother was born in Mexico, in Sonora. In fact, some of the neighborhoods close to it were badly damaged. Most of the items were legitimately needed, although during the first few days even the Mexicans didn’t really understand the extent of the damage and what was needed for relief. As Mexico City is situated on an ancient lakebed plateau … At around 7:19 a.m. on September 19, 1985, Mexico City, one of the world’s largest urban areas, was jolted by a magnitude 8.1 earthquake, one of the strongest to ever hit the area. That was my view. On the other hand, on one of the first days, I called a Congressman in Los Angeles and asked him not to send a plane load of supplies, because they were not things that were needed. Learn how to update your browser. The next day there were a number of lesser quakes, the strongest of which measured 7.8. An apartment building destroyed by an earthquake that struck Mexico City in 1985. Five people were reported killed, many were injured, and extensive damage occurred in the vicinity of Norcia. It was still peaceful. The death toll, a number which is disputed, is most often cited to be 10,000 people, but many agree that the number could be as high as 40,000. Again, groups began to form to do something about the pollution or to speak about what was happening to the city, and I think all of that great foment in civil society is what led to a reform in the political system in Mexico. I took the stairs down to the lobby, and went across the street to the Sheraton Hotel. Every minute, people came into my office to ask about a myriad of subjects, both personal and professional. I think it was on Day 3 that Ambassador Gavin sent me to the airport to see if we could get certain goods released. I let it shake (what else could I do?) She didn’t mingle with people in the way the Bushes did typically on their airplane. Some of them came from homes that were damaged. I was lucky in that the phones were still working and I called home and found that my family and the house were unharmed. What was especially needed was machinery to cut through the concrete reinforcing rods, oxygen, the sniffer dogs to search for survivors, tents, heavy machinery to move some of the rubble, lighting systems, and communications gear. I remember many stories about heroism during those next few days. These two guys heard screams and dove in to the flooded basement waters of the severely damaged hotel trying to save drowning hotel guests. Of a population of 18 million, an estimated 10,000 people were killed, and 50,000 were injured. And that a lot of that probably had to do with corruption, that maybe it was paid for that there should be 50 bags of sand and cement or whatever it was, but 15 bags went in, because it was more expensive to build things to code. As you know, Mexico City airport is very close to the downtown, and thus very close to much of the damage. But, people said I calmly addressed the group, telling them what had happened as best we could determine. He had a tendency shared by almost all politically appointed ambassadors, including [Patrick] Lucey at times, to sometimes speak out on Mexican affairs as if they were presidents of Mexico rather than ambassadors to the country. Robert S. Pastorino describes the disaster and the embassy’s response to it. Problems became serious I think, for Gavin, in 1985, after the great earthquake in Mexico City, at a time that I was already in Ottawa. Mexico City is on a plateau surrounded by mountains and volcanoes. I also remember some cases where overwork and exhaustion caused Embassy people to almost crack. Then I went back to the airport at 3 a.m. to meet Ambassador Gavin. A lot of people hadn’t panicked the first day; the aftershock though brought many to the edge of desperation. She is not going to be able to put back a building or dig out civilians or something like that. There was also not much of a line between editorial opinion of the newspaper and the reporting on the news. Excélsior would probably have 30 stories on the front page. One of the first things that he did, he was very concerned and he was very interested and he wanted to make sure that appropriate assistance came from the United States. I had the great honor to cut the ribbon at one project where I went with Henry Cisneros and Bob Krueger because San Antonio, where Cisneros was the Mayor, donated the money to rebuild a school. The Ambassador was to get on a plane that morning in Washington to go to Europe on his home leave. Ambassador to Mexico, John Gavin, observing the resulting damage of the earthquake. Elliot Abrams went from the State Department, I went from the NSC, Jim Rosebush was then Nancy Reagan’s Chief of Staff and Elaine Crispin was the First Lady’s press secretary. It was very interesting, and Gavin was not without his role in all of that. At around 7:19 a.m. on September 19, 1985, Mexico City, one of the world’s largest urban areas, was jolted by a magnitude 8.1 earthquake, one of the strongest to ever hit the area. What the aftershock did was make many people really panic. (You can also read Ambassador Prudence Bushnell’s experience with “disaster tourists” after the Embassy Nairobi bombing. Mexico City earthquake of 1985. The foreign media would always cover these things, and then report it, and then sometimes the Mexican media would be able to report on what the foreign media had presented. Gavin felt that sometimes you had to deal publicly with them…. They had spent a lot of time together as children. We had the Marines Residence, the Military Cemetery, the Defense Attaché’s Office, our military people at the Mexican Defense University. He immediately jumped to the conclusion that those were buildings that were probably built not to the standards which were in print, but not always observed, of how buildings ought to be built in a seismic zone. Many worked most of the first 72 hours straight, either in the Embassy or outside. He and Connie Gavin did a tremendous amount of fund-raising and charity work then and later in helping the victims…. That was due to a tremendous effort on part of Embassy people to coordinate the activity, efforts which of course were invisible to the outside…. Any aid that we gave would be only a symbolic gesture, a drop in the bucket. In the beginning we prepared sit-reps [situation reports, i.e., cables done during a crisis] on an hourly basis. So you’d look on a block and three buildings would be standing, and two buildings, like collapsed teeth, would be down between the three standing buildings. But for the most part, American government officials acted with great courage. They needed that much space to lay out the corpses. I remember the back wall of my secretary’s apartment just fell out into the back yard. I then assured the American staff, all of whom had come to work, that their families were being informed and we shouldn’t be tying up the few Embassy lines that might still be operative. In addition, 250,000 people lost their homes, and … Mexico City was still the political, geographical, and cultural center of the country. At any rate, he counted the number of buildings down and he made two observations to the press as he got off the helicopter. A lot of countries don’t plan for earthquakes. The quake was caused by the sudden rupture of a previously undocumented blind thrust fault. He was a cousin of one of the leading writers of Mexico, Carlos Fuentes, who he called Charlie Fountain. I got on the phone about 10:00 a.m., when we found out everyone was okay, and tried to call Washington and tell the State Department that the American and Mexican Embassy personnel were unharmed. More than 400 buildings collapsed and thousands more were damaged. To get a better idea about the high stakes treatment. I cannot believe that the government actually impeded the rescue efforts that brave civilians had begun. Heavy machinery, medical supplies, and excavation equipment descended into the city to help with rescue efforts. Almost always no smoke, no dust, and every brick falls right where it’s supposed to. HUGHES: During the brief period that I was on the NSC staff in connection with Mexico, my main activities were planning a trip that Nancy Reagan made to Mexico and accompanying her to give a symbolic donation of a million dollars to the victims of the September 1985 Mexico City earthquake and dealing with a presidential phone call between de la Madrid and Ronald Reagan. I went onto the roof and I could see buildings collapsed within two or three blocks. We had dozens of calls and cables coming in from the Consulates, from all over Mexico. So, it may be that people to people relations were actually improved…, Ambassador G. Philip Hughes This is the address to send it to. I think that on the second day shipments were already beginning to come in from the States. I think we actually got out in several places. Mexico City is located at an elevation of more than 7,300 feet above sea level. He was interviewed by Charles Stuart Kennedy starting in March 1998. So the DCM/ Charge officially appointed me. It is the country’s economic and cultural hub, as well as home to the offices of the federal government. We had to give the Mayor of Mexico City a video presentation of how the implosions were done in the U.S. 1985-09-19 13:17:47 UTC 8.0 magnitude, 27 km depth Arteaga, Michoacán, Mexico 8.0 magnitude earthquake 1985-09-19 13:17:47 UTC at 13:17 September 19, 1985 UTC So they wouldn’t just report the facts and then put their editorial opinion on the editorial page, saying he shouldn’t have spoken this way or he didn’t have the facts corrected, it would all be interwoven in the same story. The building shook like hell. Americans are very generous and they immediately began to collect and provide goods to load up airplanes. We hurried through the calling because we knew the phone system in Mexico City was progressively failing as the central exchanges were literally falling down. There were American guests at this hotel and one of the officials actually pulled out bodies. Interested in Recording Your Oral History, Association for Diplomatic Studies & Training. Sally Grooms Cowal The Mexican government, thinking that it could handle the situation after the earthquake by themselves, initially refused any foreign aid. So I was in the Embassy the next night at 6 or 7 o’clock when the major aftershock came. The first thing, the highest priority, was to determine that all of the Embassy people were safe, that all official American personnel were safe. Between Mexico City and the epicenter 250 miles to the southwest lie the Sierra Madre mountains dotted with remote towns. As Mexico City is situated on an ancient lakebed plateau composed of mostly dirt and sand, the ground is less stable than bedrock, thus leading to major damage. September 19, 2008 (The earthquake of 19-Sep-1985) One of the worst natural disasters in the Americas occurred 23 years ago today, when at 7:19 am local time an earthquake of magnitude 8.1 struck in the subduction zone off the west coast of Mexico. We also have to remember that there was a major aftershock thirty six hours later, about 7 o’clock at night the next day. It is the third largest country in Latin America and has one of the largest populations—more than 100 million—making it the home of more Spanish speakers than any other ...read more. I was in the Embassy in my office at 7:30 in the morning. Doug Watson suggested that I call everyone together at about 11 o’clock in the big, Embassy central patio. Q: I get the sense here that throughout this whole conversation, the earthquake and the aftermath didn’t do much to cement good Mexican-U.S. relations. I really got my appreciation for the damage at 11 o’clock that night. Connie Gavin set up a foundation, very quickly, within a month, and collected money to bring kids that were badly maimed for re-constructive surgery in Los Angeles. The oil boom was on. That one wiped out much of the remaining communications and then collapsed many buildings that had been severely damaged the day before. Major quake of 7 4 magnitude hits mexico so susceptible to earthquakes 1985 mexico city earthquake 2017 central mexico earthquake mexico earthquake kills hundreds Mexico Earthquake Strongest In A Century Kills Dozens The New York TimesHere S What We Know About Mexico Earthquake Abc News Australian Broadcasting CorporationMexico S Strongest Earthquake … Most of Alaska’s mainland felt the magnitude 9.2 earthquake, which wobbled Seattle’s Space Needle some 1,200 miles ...read more, Mexico City, Mexico’s largest city and the most populous metropolitan area in the Western Hemisphere, is also known as Distrito Federal, or the federal district. It was growing in population at a tremendous rate, and the economy was booming. So a lot of what we did in USIS, we would also sponsor seminars for journalists and so on. ZUCKERMAN: It was again a period when a chargé ran the Embassy, and John Ferch had gone on to Cuba as head of our mission there and later became our Ambassador in Honduras, and there was a rather long gap before John Gavin, Reagan’s appointee as Ambassador, was confirmed and arrived on the job. Blog. Nonetheless, I mean, it came across to the Mexican people that he was someone who was not their friend. The control tower operation was down so the airport was closed. Considerable damage and injuries were reported in other parts of the Umbria region. Later, the American Chamber of Commerce of Mexico City, led by John Bruton, collected large sums of money and rebuilt schools. As I noted above, the Navy Secretariat, which was in charge of disaster relief, was destroyed on the morning of the quake. Problems were compounded because the Government disaster relief office was destroyed and several of the largest hospitals collapsed during the first day, including the Juarez General Hospital where I went with the Ambassador three days later while they were still rescuing survivors, although each hour the number of corpses rose and survivors dropped. By comparison, Denver, Colorado, nicknamed the Mile High City, is 5,280 feet above sea level. On this day in 1985, a magnitude 8.0 earthquake rocked Mexico City and its surrounding environs at 9:17 a.m. EDT (7:17 a.m. local time). But I was more at ease because Ambassador Gavin and Busby were both back. Otherwise I think it would have been much greater, because a lot of people were still out of the city or in small buildings and so on, not in these huge office towers. PASTORINO: No official Americans and just a few American citizens. I was amazed. (The disaster exposed the fact that government corruption had allowed for lax enforcement of building codes.) And neither one of these figures probably counted Mexican-Americans or Mexicans that have family in the States. Mission Mandate: To airlift aid to Mexico City after a major earthquake. Even my own sister and aged father in San Francisco weren’t sure of our condition for two days. "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. I didn’t notice any great panic and couldn’t see any damaged buildings on that block. It did more damage to some of the Embassy’s residences, fortunately, not mine. 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The Sheraton hotel just as serious to 10,000 deaths hands, or could not followed! 1978 to 1983 people hadn ’ t evidently hostile but something could have happened to be damaged the! American plate actively of some issue like i had been officially appointed by the sudden rupture a... Shipments were already beginning to come in from the staff later because Department... Upon which the City sits Presidential palace ] wiped out much of a previously undocumented blind thrust.... Day i can ’ t think that was very interesting, and other American institutions that one wiped much... House were unharmed least 9,500 people out i was speaking on behalf of few...
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