2019.04.02
How Hard Were Mexican Industries Hit By the 2017 Earthquakes
As emergency situations go, earthquakes are among the most severe and destructive imaginable. You can’t prevent them or can’t manage their path, and you have a few minutes warning at best before they hit.
Worst of all, the rarity of earthquakes means that many countries, businesses and individuals get complacent about the elements that are within their control - things like earthquake-resilient building design, or rock-solid contingency and evacuation plans for the aftermath.
Nowhere was this more apparent than in Mexico City in 2017.
The 2017 Earthquakes
In September 2017, Mexico was hit by two serious earthquakes.
The first, on September 7, measured 8.1 on the Richter scale and had its epicenter around 60 miles off the country’s southwestern coast, close to Pijijiapan in the state of Chiapas. In the initial quake and hundreds of aftershocks, 90 people were killed, and thousands of houses and hundreds of schools were destroyed or damaged in Oaxaca and Chiapas.
The second earthquake, a 7.1, had it epicenter near Puebla, just 75 miles from Mexico City. It also occurred on September 19th, the 32nd anniversary of the last major earthquake to affect the capital.
Being so close to a major urban center the impact of this earthquake was far greater and more destructive. The geology of the ground under the city exacerbates shock waves - parts are built on top of an ancient lake bed, made up of sand and clay. In total, 338 people lost their lives.
What’s more, many of the buildings that were destroyed on September 19, 2017 had survived the 1985 earthquake. The first quake caused extensive damage to the city center but spared other parts of the city, leading many people to assume that these areas and buildings were able to withstand an earthquake and would do so again in the future. As this latest earthquake proved, they were not.
The Economic Impact
Unsurprisingly, the disaster sent shockwaves throughout Mexico’s economy. Some estimates put the cost of rebuilding at $2 billion.
38 buildings collapsed, among them several office buildings and apartment blocks. A further 360 were deemed ‘red level’ and either slated for demolition or for extensive structural reinforcement. Over a thousand more needed repairs to make them habitable.
Meanwhile, the government had to transfer $356 in relief funds to victims in Oaxaca and Chiapas so they could start repairing their homes.
Even after the widespread destruction caused by the earthquakes, though, the country’s heavy budget cuts meant that publicly directed construction was down 7%.
The two earthquakes also forced the state-owned oil company, Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) to temporarily close its refinery in Salina Cruz. This hit Mexico’s oil and gas industry hard, down 18% on production the previous year, especially since several refineries had already had to close after Hurricane Harvey and many export shipments had been canceled.
Manufacturing facilities surrounding Puebla fared better, with several automotive plants experiencing no structural damage, and closing just for a day or two to inspect for problems and to allow workers to check on their families.
Overall, it’s thought that reconstruction in Mexico City could take several more years. The capital is simultaneously battling severe air quality issues and cleaning up polluting industries. Access to water was already a problem, with engineers digging deep wells to find new water sources, but now the authorities also need to find a way to fix extensive leaks to the city’s 7500 miles of piping, which is causing more than a third of water to be lost before it reaches its destination.
Preparing for the Future
Mexico City’s $500 million disaster fund went some way towards mitigating the financial impact of the crisis, but the authorities and individual businesses will need to go much further to protect adequately against future disasters.
Fortunately, improvements are being taken seriously. The city has tightened up building codes and construction rules so that new buildings are better able to withstand earthquakes. Future disaster funds and insurance policies are being set up.
New city-wide emergency response plans are being drawn up, too.
That said, these plans are designed to cover the most important priority in a crisis: preventing deaths and rescuing people from the chaos. Individual companies and facilities that need to protect their livelihoods and operations to stop an earthquake from killing their business need to have their own plans in place, too.
If you’re in at-risk area, that means making sure that all critical components, including piping, emergency generators and firefighting systems, are designed to cope as much as possible with seismic activity.
All heavy machinery, containers, tanks, file cabinets and appliances should be robust units that are braced and anchored in place. Make sure that even lighter items like stock, picture frames and mirrors are secured firmly in place. Lock the rollers on any large pieces of furniture and don’t have anything loose on desks. Computers, monitors and towers should all be attached to desks.
It’s a good idea to hire a trusted structural engineer to evaluate the building, especially if it was built before the new building codes came in. There may be relatively simple ways to strengthen structural and non-structural weaknesses.
Even if you aren’t in the hardest hit areas, the ground shaking can rupture pipes and cause water damage or gas leaks. Unreinforced walls may collapse, damaging equipment and putting employees in danger. Ceiling lights and false ceilings may fall - prevent this by securing them to joists. Make sure that all windows and glass doors are covered in safety film.
Make sure that you take regular inventories, update floor plans and circuit drawings after any changes, and keep clear records of people entering and leaving the building. That way you know who and what is inside at any given time and can assist rescue and recovery operations in navigating through the damage in the safest possible way.
It’s vital, too, to have a detailed plan for what you and your team will do in the immediate aftermath of an earthquake.
Which tasks are most vital? What needs to be switched off? Who takes responsibility for which actions? Where are the designated meeting points? How will you contact each other? Who do you need to call externally for help? Which critical processes and utilities need to prioritized to salvage inventory and products, or to get you up and running again quickly?
Final Thoughts: Lessons to Be Learned
If there’s one major lesson to be learned from the 2017 earthquakes in Mexico, it’s that you can never afford to be complacent.
Just because you were spared a particular outcome in the last crisis, it doesn’t follow that things will work out the same next time.
Next time, the impact may be greater in your area. The epicenter may be closer to you. Buildings may have been weakened in previous quakes and even moderate shaking could be the final straw.
Just because you’ve designed a building with a view to withstanding earthquakes, that doesn’t mean it’s completely safe.
You still need to think very carefully about how to secure and strengthen all your internal components, to identify the best and worst fortified areas, and to identify safe points of exit. Plus, no matter how strong your foundations or building structure, if the ground underneath is soft and crumbling, as it is under much of Mexico City, the risks are still profound. Don’t take any chances!
Just because you have insurance, that doesn’t mean you’re protected against financial disaster or that you can be sure you’ll get back on your feet fast.
Delays happen. Most policies have excess limits and exceptions. You may spend months debating with them to reach an agreement on what payout you’re entitled to. In that time, your business may be hamstrung - or may even become unviable.
In short, you need to take every step within your power to protect yourself against damage in an earthquake.
You need to take this seriously. To run drills to keep your team on their toes. To trial-run your backup systems.
To have clear plans in place that involve all key personnel within your organization as well as all third parties that you will need to rely on for support and temporary equipment.
To actually enforce all the safety rules and systems that you outline. Simply devising an earthquake response plan and then throwing it in a drawer where it’s forgotten about is certainly not enough.
To ensure that whatever measures you establish to get people to safety can be put into effect with lightning speed. Bear in mind that Mexico’s early warning earthquake systems only work for earthquakes that start offshore and on September 19, 2017, alarms in Mexico City went off just 15 seconds beforehand. You will likely have just seconds to get your team to safety in a crisis, so walk through your plans to check that’s feasible.
After all, when you’re situated on a fault line, the question is not “if” there will be an earthquake, but “when”. That makes it highly worth your while to invest time and resources now into preparing for future disasters. It will cost you much, much less in the long run.