​On Friday, Sept. 7, at 11:39 p.m. (CDT), a magnitude 8.1 earthquake struck just off the southern coast of Mexico. About 5,000 homes in Chiapas, Mexico were destroyed by the quake, and even more –– about 11,000 homes –– were damaged or destroyed in Oaxaca, a Mexican state of nearly 4 million people.
According to CNN, the epicenter of the earthquake was in the Pacific Ocean, approximately 600 miles southeast of the capital of Chiapas and 74 miles off the coast.
The earthquake initially killed at least five people, and damaged much of the infrastructure of Chiapas –– a state with a population of 3.4 million people –– and triggered small tsunami waves that would later flood large sections of Oaxaca city.
“We were really scared,” said junior Carlos Reyes. He received a call from his mother, who lives in Tabasco, Mexico, at 1:00 a.m. on the morning of the quake. “My mother told me that all our neighbors were gathering together … it was a big deal. There were some houses that fell down and, actually, there was a hotel that fell down,” Reyes said. “The walls were cracked.”
The earthquake was felt by about 50 million people across the country, and was the strongest Mexico has experienced in 100 years, according to CNN.
That same day, Hurricane Katia made landfall north of Tecolutla, Mexico, bringing winds of 75 mph. According to United Press International (UPI), Katia is the 11th Atlantic storm named so far this hurricane season, of which Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Jose are numbered.
Because of these two events, Mexico was forced to withdraw an offer to send aid to Houston, Texas, which was hit by Hurricane Harvey two weeks prior, in order to reallocate resources to disaster relief in their own country. There were 33 members of the Mexican Red Cross stationed in Houston.
According to the Los Angeles Times, emergency responders scrambled to clear debris, restore power and provide housing for thousands of displaced people in one of the country’s poorest and most remote regions.
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto declared three days of mourning for those affected by the two disasters.
“One in three homes is now uninhabitable,” Peña Nieto said. On Friday evening, some residents pulled mattresses outside and slept in the streets.
“This earthquake did more than destroy homes and businesses … it destroyed livelihoods,” said Brandon Gomez, junior at Harding, who has family in Mexico.
The earthquake’s death toll continues to rise as authorities dig through rubble in southern Mexico. 45 people have died in the state of Oaxaca, 12 in Chiapas and four in Tabasco, on Mexico’s Gulf Coast, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“The power of this earthquake was devastating,” Nieto said. “But we are certain that the power of unity, the power of solidarity and the power of shared responsibility will be greater.”