Fallout from quake worries local migrant workers
Some temporary migrant workers have headed home to help family
The latest deadly earthquake to level buildings in the heart of Mexico City brought back chilling memories for Alberto Bernal Acero.
Now the Mexican consul in Leamington, Acero was a university student when a devastating magnitude 8.0 earthquake killed thousands in Mexico City on Sept. 19, 1985.
Thirty-two years to the day and Mexico City was hit again this past Tuesday with a magnitude 7.1 event where the death toll has climbed above 270 so far.
More than 90 deaths have been reported from an 8.1 quake that struck just two weeks earlier on Mexico’s southern coast.
“The memories are terrible,” Acero said of that day in 1985. “I saw crushed buildings and cracked windows. One of the main hospitals was severely damaged.
“It was really depressing walking on the street and seeing piles of rubble, the destruction and the silence.”
Acero, like others in Essex County with a Mexican heritage, is left to try and help his homeland from afar.
He estimates there are 40 families living in this area with either one or two spouses originally from Mexico.
In addition, there are 3,600 Mexican migrant workers here this season working on farms and in greenhouses.
Of the permanent residents, Acero said “none of them have had any relatives with casualties,” from the recent earthquakes. “Most of them are from regions away from the damaged areas.”
Acero said he has heard from employers of temporary migrant workers that some workers have headed home to help family.
“Especially after the Sept. 7 earthquake we heard there were some who requested to go back,” Acero said. “And there will be more of them as soon as they are able to fly out.”
Mexico native Maria Hernandez owns the Tacos Tony restaurant on Erie Street South in Leamington.
She has heard the fear and anxiety in the voices of the migrant workers she serves.
“It is hard on them,” Hernandez said. “There are so much tears. The only thing you can do is pray for them.”
Hernandez has been in Canada for the last 30 years. Her remaining relatives in Mexico live on the Caribbean side of the country and were not harmed by either earthquake.
Acero said his head office in Mexico is encouraging any donations be made directly to the Mexican Red Cross.
“That’s being recommended from our main office in Mexico,” Acero said.
“So the donations are properly handled and used for the recovery efforts.”
He said updates will be posted on the consul’s Facebook page and on the website at www.consulmex. sre.gob.mx/leamington/.