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The Quake That Shook Mexico Awake Is Recalled

The Quake That Shook Mexico Awake Is Recalled
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September 19, 1995, Section A, Page 3Buy Reprints
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Like any event that sears the soul of a great city, the brutal earthquake that killed as many as 10,000 people and flattened 400 buildings in this sprawling capital 10 years ago gave rise to many legends.

One is the tale of La Pulga, "the Flea," a man small of stature and great in courage who selflessly wriggled through the rubble in search of victims. Then there was the baby who was delivered alive after his mother was killed in a collapsing building. And the rescue workers who carried pliers with them and pulled out the gold teeth of the dead.

As Mexico City commemorates the 10th anniversary of the devastating quake on Tuesday, those legends are being retold over and over again.

Of all the stories, the one that still has the power to cause controversy is a particularly Mexican legend that says that in the confusing weeks after the quake, when the long-ruling Mexican Government proved itself incapable of governing, the people themselves rose up and took control of their own destinies.

Housewives and writers organized neighborhood people to search for victims and set up emergency housing. Later those same groups challenged the Government itself, confronting officials with ever-increasing demands for housing, or opposing projects that were potentially damaging to the environment. From these beginnings, an opposition movement grew that nearly won the 1988 presidential election and has made it possible to think of the long-governing Institutional Revolutionary Party, the PRI, as beatable.

For die-hard members of the Mexican left like Marco Antonio Rascon, 43, a member of Congress who traces his political roots to the community organizing he did in poor neighborhoods devastated by the earthquake, Mexican society was forever changed by the 90 seconds that shook the city in 1985.

"It was a social temblor that affected everything," Mr. Rascon said. "It legitimized the form of popular mobilization in Mexico."

But others see the PRI's tenacious hold on power 10 years after the earthquake, and 66 years since it first grabbed the presidency in 1929, as proof that the idea of Mexicans being in charge of their own destiny is still just wishful thinking.

"When the emergency of 1985 passed, so did the enthusiasm of most of the people," Adolfo Aguilar Zinser, a member of Congress, wrote in a recent column in the Mexico City daily Reforma. "It has to be recognized that in the equally catastrophic economic crisis of today, Mexican society is nowhere near as combative, as dedicated or as with as much solidarity as it was in the days of the earthquake."

Whatever the long-term impact, something extraordinary did happen at 7:19 A.M. on Sept. 19, 1985, when one of this century's most powerful earthquakes, measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale, shattered Mexico City.

The fragility of one of the world's largest urban areas immediately became evident. The old telephone network was knocked out, isolating the city from the rest of the world. Hotels, hospitals and housing projects crumbled in seconds, and it was later discovered that graft and bribery had kept building codes from being enforced.

When Government-controlled television returned to the air hours after the quake, the broadcasts repeated President Miguel de la Madrid's message that damage was limited, even though great sections of the city had been ripped apart.

The Mexican people were infuriated. "Mexicans had come to accept corruption with a kind of fatalism," said Homero Aridjis, a Mexico City writer who also is active in environmental affairs. "But to see it in a situation of life and death was unforgivable."

Mr. Aridjis said it became clear right away that if there was any chance of rescuing family members trapped in the rubble, the people would have to do it themselves.

Mr. Rascon spent days trying to find his brother-in-law, only to learn after two frustrating weeks that he had died in the collapse of the Regis Hotel in Mexico City's historic center. As his hope of finding his relative dimmed, Mr. Rascon turned to helping rescue others and later organizing groups of people who had been left homeless by the quake.

In 1987 there was still a shortage of housing, so he helped organize an unofficial survey of housing needs and signed up 60,000 people, who formed an organization called the Assembly of Neighborhoods. For a short time he put on the mask and red cape of a new costumed character called Super Barrio, who crusaded for the rights of the poor in Mexico City.

The disaffection that arose from the earthquake persuaded millions of Mexicans to support a dissident group that split from the PRI in 1987. The 1988 presidential election became a focus of the new, angry left. For the first time ever, the PRI lost Mexico City to the opposition and barely squeaked to an official victory in the elections, although under questionable circumstances.

After 1988, some groups returned to the fight for housing and local interests while others became more involved in elections. Sergio Aguayo, a political scientist who worked with a Quaker group after the earthquake, moved continuously toward more active political participation. In the presidential election in August of last year, he led the Civic Alliance, a coalition of hundreds of citizens' groups that organized a national network of election observers.

But the PRI won again, and the fire seemed to go out of many citizens' groups. While social unrest was expected most recently as a consequence of the severe economic crisis, with its soaring unemployment and punishing interest rates, Mexicans have remained calm.

Mr. Aridjis insists that after 1985, the character of Mexicans changed from passive to active, but their skepticism about political parties remained the same. Thus, while political activism might have waned, Mexicans have been willing to fight the Government on local issues like the golf course proposed for the town of Tepotzlan, south of Mexico City. Local people recently took officials hostage and blockaded the town in opposition to the development plans. The project has since been suspended.

Today, the Civic Alliance says, there are 225 human rights groups in Mexico. Before the earthquake there were 10. There is a tougher new construction code in Mexico City, and a more modern communication system. Mexico City even has an earthquake alarm system that is supposed to give a one-minute warning when another big one is coming, although several false alarms have raised doubts about its reliability.

Enrique Krauze, a popular historian and author, said it is probably too soon to tell the true impact of the earthquake.

"Since we still don't know if this long movie that is Mexico will have a happy democratic ending or not, we cannot say for sure how profound an effect 1985 had on society," Mr. Krauze said. "But it will certainly be remembered not only as a great tragedy but as a landmark of social awakening in Mexico."

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 3 of the National edition with the headline: The Quake That Shook Mexico Awake Is Recalled. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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