Mexico earthquake 2017

After evaluating Mexico's early warning system, researchers conclude that systems should provide alerts that are as simple as possible. Follow-up information is needed immediately after, and it is important that the information is consistent and widely distributed. While these steps are vital, any warning system is only as good as the action taken to reduce harm.

A new report finds that it wasn’t the earthquake alone that killed 228 people nearly a year ago in Mexico City. Dozens of buildings that collapsed in the quake had been shoddily constructed and wrongly deemed safe by building inspectors to increase profits.

Five months after a large earthquake shook Mexico City, the capital is better prepared to deal with future tremors according to Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera. Current efforts focus on tightening up building codes and improving emergency response.

The Mexico earthquake and California Wine Country wildfires demonstrate how socioeconomic structures create disasters, as poor and vulnerable populations are hit the hardest. Though early warning systems and forest management contribute to decreased disaster risk, in the end it is social resilience among Mexicans and Californians that has enabled recovery.

After the September earthquake, Mexico City's civil society showed improved preparedness and quicker recovery compared to the earthquake experienced in 1985. This event demonstrates that social cohension is as important as strengthened infrastructure, effective early warning systems, and efficient government emergency procedures, the author writes.

Researchers have studied the earthquake early warning (EEW) systems in Mexico in hope of bringing the knowledge back to the U.S., where an EEW is currently being developed on the West Coast. Lessons learned were compiled and published, and include the importance of creating a seismic culture that emphasises training and taking action in an earthquake event.

Mexico City is filled with buildings that are especially vulnerable to earthquakes. In order to make the building earthquake resilient, they need to be retrofitted with stronger concrete columns and steel design. There still has not been a public discourse or education on resilient building, a crucial step in mandatory retrofitting to meet any opposition.

Since the September earthquakes in Mexico, early warning start-up SkyAlert has doubled its users to almost 6 million. The start-up is looking to expand to other earthquake-prone countries in Latin America that lack an official warning system, but SkyAlert is facing financing challenges since Mexico City has limited their ability to access funds through public financing.

Interviews with scholars, officials and building inspectors after last week's earthquake indicate that Mexico's strict building codes are not enforced properly or evenly. Differences in loss and damages between the 1985 and 2017 quakes reflect differences in seismic activity, rather than the effective implementation of the new codes adopted in 2004.