Mexico's quake-proof building codes not always respected
MEXICO CITY — Sergio Lopez spends his days inspecting buildings at risk of collapse in Mexico City following Tuesday's quake. And he still can't believe that a school where 19 children and six adults died collapsed like a house of cards. "It just should have stood up. It shouldn't have come down," he says angrily.
Lopez is a structural engineer and he knows the ins and outs of earthquake-resistant construction code improvements as well as anyone. Those improvements were developed after a 1985 earthquake that killed more than 10,000 people in the capital.
"Back in 1985, the code book was about 80 pages long. Now, it's a massive brick—like 600-pages long," said Lopez, 55, on his way to an inspection.
Tuesday's earthquake, which struck on the 32nd anniversary of the devastating 1985 quake, toppled 39 buildings in Mexico City. Some 600 buildings damaged but left standing have to be checked to verify the state of their structure, according to Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera.
Among the changes authorities put in place after the 32year-old disaster, which left several areas of this metropolis of 20 million in ruins, is the use of steelreinforced concrete, as well as weight-bearing regulations. Also, buildings have to feature mandatory escape routes.
Lopez points out that thanks to these new rules, this week's tragedy was not on the scale of the 1985 disaster. He says that the buildings that fell "either were built before 1985, or, honestly, were poorly built, like the school."
In Tuesday's quake, the neighborhoods hit hardest were the central Roma and Condesa zones, home to many charming buildings from the early part of the 20th century.