Menlo Park nonprofit executive Janise Rodgers was in Mexico City when the ground began to shake the morning of Sept. 19. Only two hours before, she had participated in an earthquake drill in recognition of the 32nd anniversary of a devastating earthquake in Mexico when the real thing happened.
She was there representing, of all things, the Menlo Park-based GeoHazards International, which seeks to prevent death and suffering from natural disasters by working with vulnerable communities in developing countries. As chief operating officer of the nonprofit, she was there to give presentations at an international forum on earthquake preparedness at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico) in Mexico City.
In an interview, Ms. Rodgers said that the temblor she felt was less severe where she was during the earthquake — the forum was held on a hillier part of Mexico City, not the soft-soiled lake bed area that incurred the worst damage — but she said the experts who evacuated the building with her were immediately concerned about the potential damage that would result in other parts of the city.
The evacuation went very smoothly, as the entire group had practiced what to do only hours before, she said.
She said that conference attendees were discouraged from immediately diving in to do the things they are trained to do, such as assessing structures. In the aftermath of a disaster, she said, first responders and emergency professionals need to focus on saving lives and helping people. Assessments and engineering studies can wait.
So the forum continued. She noted that, from what she’d heard on the ground, there was a “tremendous outpouring of public support for people affected.”
Safer structures?
According to the New York Times, the earthquake left fewer than 300 people dead, 40 buildings collapsed and about 4,000 buildings severely damaged.
Even so, Ms. Rodgers said, this earthquake was “far, far less destructive” than the one in 1985. That quake killed an estimated 10,000 people, the Times reported.
“It’s a testament to hard work by people in Mexico to improve the building codes, make buildings stronger and be prepared,” she said.
That work, she said, involves the exact efforts her organization encourages in other places in the world.
“We do work to prevent exactly these types of tragedies,” Ms. Rodgers said, referring to her organization. GeoHazards International works primarily in Nepal, India, Bhutan and Haiti, and focuses on preparing key locations, especially schools and hospitals, for natural disasters such as earthquakes. The organization helps such areas improve their ability to keep people safe by working with local leaders, preparing schools and hospitals, teaching people how to protect themselves, and training local professionals to make buildings and infrastructure safer.”
One impact of the earthquake was the collapse of a school that resulted in the deaths of an estimated 19 children and six adults.
“It’s tragedies like this that bring home the importance of (earthquake safety),” Ms. Rodgers said. “We all need to be prepared.”
How to help
After consulting with her colleagues on the ground, Ms. Rodgers gave several recommendations on how locals can support people and earthquake preparedness, depending on their interests.
• To give direct local help to people affected by the earthquake, consider a donation to the Carlos Slim Foundation at fundacioncarlosslim.org. Donations are currently being matched 5 to 1.
• To support damage assessment, consider donating to the Mexican Society of Structural Engineering (Sociedad mexicana de Ingeniera Estructural) at smie.org.mx or Civil Engineers College of Mexico (Colegio de Ingenieros Civiles de Mexico) at cicm.org.mx.
• To support school earthquake safety in the U.S., consider donating to the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute School Earthquake Safety Initiative at eeri.org.
• To support earthquake preparedness efforts in other countries, consider donating to GeoHazards International at geohaz.org.
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