Central Mexico Earthquake Response

On September 19^th, 2017, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck central Mexico. EMI deployed 2 structural engineers to Mexico on October 2^nd with Urban Mosaic. The team of structural engineers, working in tandem with local government officials, engineering students, and a ministry engineer, assessed the safety of homes, government structures, commercial shops, school buildings, and a several century’s old church in Tlaquiltenango and Jojutla, Morelos.

Altogether, 92 structures were inspected helping hundreds of individuals. The safety of these structures were designated using local assessment forms that were similar to ATC-20’s Rapid Assessment documents (Red, Yellow and Green “tags”). Where appropriate, repairs were recommended to help improve the seismic safety of these buildings.

Before flying out of Mexico City, the team was also able to assist a local pastor and his family in Xochimilco, assessing 11 more structures for the small congregation and their surrounding community.

The majority of these structures were confined masonry or unreinforced masonry structures. The masonry types found were brick, adobe, CMU, and stone. Several steel frame buildings were inspected as well.