Earthquakes affect many people worldwide. An earthquake occurs when the earth begins shaking and releases energy in earth’s lithosphere that creates seismic waves. CDMX gets most of its seismic activity from the Cocos and Pacific plates sliding against and under the North American Plate, making it one of the most active trenches in the world. Mexico City, which sits through the San Andreas fault, was hit by a major earthquake on September 19, 1985. Mexico City’s population was roughly 77 million before the earthquake hit. When the earthquake hit, about 5,000 bodies were found in the debris but there were most likely many more that disappeared and haven’t been recovered. This earthquake damaged and destroyed about 3536 buildings, killed over 5,000 people, caused nearly 4 billion USD in damage, and affected nearly half of Greater Mexico City. Even though the earth only shook for about five minutes, it still caused a severe amount of damage and devastation in the city. The majority of the buildings affected were the semi-tall ones, ranging from six to fifteen stories high. One …show more content…
In 2017, there was another devastating earthquake but because of the new technologies and alarms for the earthquake, only about 360 people were killed. The advances in technology include alerts on people’s cell phones which help because nearly everyone has a cell phone. Another advance includes an alarm that goes off only a minute before the earthquake starts. This gives people time to grab a few important things like their pets and/or their children and get out of the building. Seismologists also have more advanced technology so they can get more accuracy when studying earthquakes. The technology can help them when trying to figure out the magnitude of the earthquake and when exactly it will