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Mexico City can’t catch a break

Horrific drug violence, the financial crisis, a deadly epidemic, and now an earthquake. You can’t really blame Mexico City residents for being in an apocalyptic frame of mind: “I’m scared,” said Sarai Luna Pajas, a 22-year-old social services worker standing outside her office building moments after it hit. “We Mexicans are not used to living ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.
586359_090427_mexico2.jpg
586359_090427_mexico2.jpg
Mexicans await outside their offices after an earthquake in Mexico City April 27, 2009. A strong 6.0-magnitude earthquake shook buildings in Mexico City Monday, as the city grapples with an outbreak of deadly swine flu. The epicenter of the quake, which hit at 11:46 am (1646 GMT), was in the southern city of Guerrero, at a depth of 41.2 kilometers (25.6 miles), the US Geological Survey said. AFP PHOTO/Alfredo ESTRELLA (Photo credit should read ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP/Getty Images)

Horrific drug violence, the financial crisis, a deadly epidemic, and now an earthquake. You can’t really blame Mexico City residents for being in an apocalyptic frame of mind:

“I’m scared,” said Sarai Luna Pajas, a 22-year-old social services worker standing outside her office building moments after it hit. “We Mexicans are not used to living with so much fear, but all that is happening — the economic crisis, the illnesses and now this — it feels like the Apocalypse.”

Co-worker Harold Gutierrez, 21, said the country was taking comfort from its religious faith, but he too was gripped by the sensation that the world might be coming to an end.

“If it is, it is God’s plan,” Gutierrez said, speaking over a green mask he wore to ward off swine flu.

ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP/Getty Images

Joshua Keating is a former associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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