Four days ago, I worried that the smaller force of the recent quake meant that we could not be sure that better building standards were the reason fewer buildings collapsed. There was some pushback in comments, noting that the epicenter was much closer to Mexico City in 2017 than in 1985. There was also some pushback on Twitter making a similar point. The Twitter exchange ended with Leticia Arroyo-Abad presciently saying that we could tell nothing from the size the quake because “it would depend on how different frequencies affect different structures.”
And she is absolutely right. The New York Times now reports that the closer distance of the 2017 quake meant that the shaking was far less damaging to buildings above six stories in height. Moreover, a 2016 study showed that many new buildings did not meet the minimum requirements of the building code.
This photograph was taken in the same neighborhood as the new high rise mentioned in the NYT article, the one which collapsed. (More details here.) We know people who live in new buildings in that neighborhood. They dodged a bullet. There should have been no bullet to dodge, even in a 7.1 quake. That makes me angry.
The jury is still out, but evidence is piling up that repeat of the 1985 quake would have killed far more people than the one Mexico City just experienced. The heads of bureaucrats and politicians in CDMX need to roll. The Line 12 saga shows that Mexico can have such a reckoning ... and once we are over counting our blessings and celebrating the heroism of the citizenry, this reckoning should be big.
That's terrifying info. I really hope there is a reckoning because people's lives shouldn't be played with. Some folks need to go to prison for a long time because of this.
Posted by: J.H. | September 25, 2017 at 09:04 AM