Modern Era · North America · Disaster
1985
Mexico City earthquake
September 19, 1985
An 8.0 quake struck just after dawn, collapsing buildings across Mexico City. Ten thousand died; the government response was so inept that ordinary citizens took over rescue efforts, finding survivors in the rubble with their hands. The disaster shook confidence in the PRI's seventy-year grip on power and helped seed later democratic reform.
In context
Also in 1985 (4 other events on record)
- Gorbachev takes Soviet helm · Europe · Politics
- Discovery of the hole in the ozone layer · Oceania · Science
- British miners' strike ends · Europe · Politics
- Live Aid · Europe · Culture
Before and after in North America
Before and after in Disaster
Era
Modern Era (1901–2000), one of 590 events from that era on Saeculum.