The Earthquake in Mexico City Last Night

Last night I woke up to Luna barking, growling, and hitting the bed with her arm at around midnight. My eyes opened and a loud alarm registered in my ears. My first thought was that there was a fire, and my heart started beating like a trap song. That’s when I felt my bed swaying back and forth. Luna kept barking. I heard noise in the hallway outside my apartment, so I got up and grabbed the keys and ran to the door. Walking felt strange with the whole building moving beneath my feet and all around me. I was terrified. The building kept swaying, now a little faster and harder. My neighbors across the hall, an 85-year-old couple, were bracing themselves in their open doorway. The woman was crying as she stared at me sitting on the ground in my doorway holding Luna. I heard some glass fall over. The couple asked me if I was alone. I said yes. Omar is at the ranch in Veracruz with his dad. The building kept swaying. It felt like it might fall. We live on the third floor. Only the roof is above us.

When it ended, we were all frozen in place, Luna too. I could feel her heart beating like mine as I held her in my arms. The man told me he had never felt the earth move that way and so forcefully, and he had been alive for the huge 1985 earthquake here in Mexico City. Then a couple of girls came down the stairs, maybe 10 minutes later. They told me I looked like a ghost and asked me if it was my first earthquake. I said yes. They said it’s safest to get to the top of the building and go to a corner where there is more stability. I wonder if that’s true. Why not just leave the building? Maybe because we were so close to the roof, much closer than the exit on the ground floor, that would be the safest option. If the building collapsed and the roof fell, I guess Luna and I could be really hurt, or worse.

When I finally went back into my apartment, I started crying. My whole body was shaking and Luna would not leave my side. My phone was on the bed, so I went to grab it so I could tell everyone I was ok. Omar, I thought, @kindstranger, my parents. I had tons of messages, including some from him, his mom, and lots of other friends. I called my parents to let them know I was ok, but they didn’t answer. My message probably sounded like I was in danger or that something horrible had happened to me because I was crying and I could barely get words out. They called back a few minutes later, so happy to hear from me, wondering what happened.

The damage in Mexico City is really minimal. The center of the earthquake, which registered on the richter scale at 8.2, was off the coast of southern Mexico near the state of Chiapas. In that state and in Oaxaca, people are dead, trapped in buildings, buildings, including a city hall, have collapsed. Tsunami warnings are in place, and waves at 10 feet or higher are predicted to hit those coasts. Those are the two poorest states in Mexico, and I am sending my thoughts to them.

What a terrifying feeling, a big earthquake. I thought my building could fall. I was utterly helpless sitting there with Luna in the doorway. The earth is an unpredictable force, especially at plate boundaries. I am still shaken up 8 hours later, 6 of them sleeping hours. For two hours after my building stopped swaying, I couldn’t fall alseep. Luna and I sat awake, for awhile in her bed in the living room, then we moved to our bed in the bedroom, just breathing and thinking.

Some days are meant for appreciating the brief time on earth you’ve been given, paying attention to the love around you and holding it and the people who share it closely, reflecting on the fragile nature of life, and the ways it can so easily be shaken. One of those days is today.