Mexicans spooked by repeat quake
When a devastating earthquake rocked Mexico City on Tuesday, 32 years to the day after another deadly temblor, the city's traumatized inhabitants struggled to understand why disaster had struck twice on the same date.
Just two hours after a city-wide seismic drill to mark the earlier tragedy, Mexico City was shaken by a magnitude 7.1 quake, its second major tremor in less than two weeks, which killed at least 100 people in the capital and 230 nationwide.
The annual drill is a legacy of the 1985 quake, a harrowing disaster imprinted on the national psyche after claiming over 5,000 lives in Mexico City.
In a country with a long history of supernatural beliefs, the timing of the quakes triggered conspiracy theories and reopened old wounds.
Situated at the intersection of three tectonic plates, Mexico is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries, and the capital is particularly vulnerable due to its location on top of an ancient lake bed.
Tuesday's quake striking on the 1985 anniversary appeared to be purely coincidental, said Jana Pursley, a geophysicist with the United States Geological Survey, noting that the epicenters were hundreds of kilometers apart.
But for some Mexico City residents, the timing may have made lingering anxieties more acute, said Elizabeth Willems, a local psychologist who has treated patients coping with post-traumatic stress disorder from the 1985 disaster.
In a phenomenon known as the "anniversary effect," distress levels can spike as the date of a traumatic event approaches, Willems said. The repetition of the event would have compounded the stress, she added.
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