Emergency Earthquake Response in Mexico

IsraAID first arrived in Mexico in the summer of 2017, after an earthquake struck the country causing widespread damage, in the Mexican states of Puebla and Morelos, claiming the lives of close to 400 people, and injuring thousands. With families and communities evacuated from their homes and staying in temporary shelters, Protection of vulnerable populations is of high concern. The associated stress and departure from routine can have severe, long-term affects on mental health, further exacerbated by the breakdown of community support systems. Without intact infrastructure, safe water access and sanitation management poses a danger, as the potential for a secondary crisis increases significantly.

IsraAID hit the ground and launched an emergency response mission, ensuring that affected communities had the necessary relief items, psychosocial support, and access to safe water to begin to rebuild. As the area began to return to normalcy, IsraAID's teams began to transition their programs toward long-term needs, focusing on Disaster Risk Reduction. Building emergency response mechanisms is a key part of building back better, ensuring that communities have the resources and the knowledge base to create a foundation for what happens and how to respond next time a crisis hits.

Throughout 2019, IsraAID continued to work toward this goal. Throughout the program, IsraAID implemented a school-based Disaster Risk Reducation program in 100% of the secondary schools across the state of Morelos, where students, teachers, staff members, and parents were all involved in creating disaster response plans for their communities.

Overall, in 2019, IsraAID:

• Worked in partnership with 325 schools, ensuring that they are prepared for the next emergency
• Trained 717 facilitators, who can continue to implement these processes in their schools and communities
• Included more than 3,000 parents and family members in emergency preparedness programs
• Reached more than 28,000 children and teenagers through each school
• Distributed 513 guidebooks to help support schools and communities through the technical and psychosocial aspects of emergency preparedness planning
• Trained 51 staff members from 28 different Municipal Civil Protection bodies to include local authorities in the process

Thank you to all who participated in this impactful program, and to you, our supporters, who make all of this possible!

IsraAID arrived in Mexio shortly after 19th September 2017, when a 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit near Puebla. The earthquake claimed the lives of over 200 people, and caused drastic devastation to buildings and other key infrastructure in the area. IsraAID remains on the ground, where Disaster Risk Reduction Specialists are implementing a state-wide Emergency Preparedness curriculum in partnership with the Ministry of Education. This blog was written by Amit Gerstein, a IsraAID Humanitarian Fellow, and a senior at George Washington University studying International Affairs.

They knew it was funny. The kids lined up on the pavement yard in two rows and got ready for the music to start, giggling in preteen self-consciousness as we watched from the side. A trumpet began the song, followed by a chorus of instruments and voices singing the fun, fast-paced melody typical of Mexican folk. The row of boys walked around to the front of the row of girls, beginning the steps of a traditional dance under the supervision of the dance teacher who would intermittently shout out a correction or tip. 

For a moment, it seemed perfect: the laughing kids, the sunny day, our team sitting in the shade setting up our camera and microphone for an interview, the smell of quesadillas gently wafting towards us from the outdoor kitchen. The teacher we were interviewing sat down. A round of holas and brief introductions before we began to film. 

“Just make sure to look at me while you are talking and not at the camera” one of IsraAID’s team members requested in Spanish as Lauren and I turned on our cameras, ready to record. The soft smiles on our faces quickly faded into concentration and the teacher described her experience during the 2017 earthquake. As she talked, I tried to picture it: the buildings shaking, rocks falling, screams amidst a chaos of people attempting to seek shelter, teachers trying to both stay calm and direct their students while internally afraid for their own lives. 

It almost didn’t make sense. Did that really happen here? It seemed impossible that the courtyard of children dancing, the hallway where two kids furtively attempted to cut class, the kitchen where the cook was making quesadillas were the sites of such pain and fear.

Two days ago, we visited an urban school during a teacher training. It was one of the first of IsraAID’s Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) trainings, and one of the first activities included an introduction of the teachers, their families, hobbies, and experiences during the 2017 earthquake. After a few teachers made their introductions, one teacher, Maria, stood up. Wearing a paisley pantsuit, Maria was one of the younger teachers in the room, but her experiences struck a chord with everyone there. She told of her husband, parents and kids, her hobbies and teaching style. She then began to describe her experiences during the earthquake, adding to the verbal collection of stories that was filling the room. 

For her, however, the greatest pain she experienced during the earthquake was psychological rather than physical. As the ground started to shake and the chaos began, she was momentarily paralyzed. “I was afraid for my students. I knew that I needed to help them,” she explained. “But I also wanted to go home and make sure my kids were safe.” She remembered seeing other teachers running from the school to go to their families. “But how can I blame them? It’s their family.”

“I needed to stay for my students” she continued, “but I was afraid for my own kids the whole time.”

For the schools implementing IsraAID’s DRR program, attending trainings and implementing drills and projects is not just a box on a checklist. Mexico was not prepared for its last earthquake, and these teachers know first-hand the consequences of that lack of preparedness. The importance of such a training was not theoretical. It was almost too real. 

So they went to trainings and planned activities, ran drills and discussed logistics because they knew what their school was lacking and were driven to close that gap. At the beginning of the DRR program, teachers share their experiences regarding the earthquake both in order to help them deal with the trauma they experienced and to remind themselves and others of the road ahead and the work they need to do to make sure they are ready for the future.

Thank you for your support of this program!