Stories Behind the 2017 Earthquakes in Mexico: Response-Recovery-Reconstruction
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Libro Terremoto PORT ENG FINAL.indd 1-5 K Y M C Fte HistoriasSismos 30235 ING Marco 05/11/20 17:16 Libro Terremoto PORT ENG FINAL.indd 1-5 K Y M C Fte HistoriasSismos 30235 ING 05/11/20 17:16 Marco Libro Terremoto INT ENG_0110.indd 1 05/11/20 17:19 Libro Terremoto INT ENG_0110.indd 2 05/11/20 17:19 Libro Terremoto INT ENG_0110.indd 3 05/11/20 17:19 Technical document Stories behind the 2017 earthquakes in Mexico: Response-Recovery-Reconstruction Published in 2020 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific Organization y la Cultura, 7, place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP, France. © UNESCO 2020 This publication is available in open access under the Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO license (CCBY-SA3.0 IGO) (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/). When using the content of this publication, users accept the conditions of use of the Repository UNESCO Open Access (http://www.unesco.org/open-access/terms-use-ccbysa-sp). The designations used and the presentation of material throughout this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or referent to the delimitation of its borders or circumscriptions. The ideas and opinions expressed in this publication correspond to the authors; they are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not bind the Organization. This publication was conceived, developed, coordinated and edited in its entirety by UNESCO’s Section for Earth Sciences and Geohazard Risk Reduction: Coordination and general editing of the project: Soichiro Yasukawa, Program Specialist in Disaster Risk Reduction, UNESCO Editorial development: Dorian Rommens, UNESCO Office in Mexico Aracely Torres Morales, UNESCO Office in Mexico Masaia Sasaki, UNESCO Graphic and cover design: Rodrigo Morlesin, UNESCO Office in Mexico We deeply appreciate all the support provided by Mexican Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AMEXCID), the National Coordination Civil Protection Agency (CNPC), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and all the people involved in the project “Preparation for a better response, recovery and reconstruction; Learning from disaster ethnography “(PRERADE). This material was planned to be used in the last workshop of PRERADE project in May 2020 in Mexico. We thank the Government of Japan for its generous financial support in the project. PRERADE to assist the Government of the United Mexican States in the evaluation from “Build Back Better” as a result of the devastating earthquakes in Mexico in 2017. Printed in Mexico. Libro Terremoto INT ENG_0110.indd 4 05/11/20 17:19 Libro Terremoto INT ENG_0110.indd 5 05/11/20 17:19 Libro Terremoto INT ENG_0110.indd 6 05/11/20 17:19 PRESENTATION Around midnight on September 7, 2017, an earthquake measuring 8.2 on the Richter scale shook the States of Oaxaca and Chiapas in southern Mexico, causing gigantic human and material losses. The damage from that earthquake had not been counted yet, when on September 19 around 13.00 hours, a new earthquake hit central Mexico specifically the cities of Morelos, Puebla and Mexico City, in that moment it was 7.1 degrees of Richter, which generated large losses that exacerbated the damage already caused by the September 7th earthquake. The earthquakes left 480 casualties, as well as damage to around 150,000 homes, 12,000 schools and 1,500 historical monuments. According to World Bank estimates, reconstruction costs are expected to reach $ 2 billion. UNESCO in collaboration with the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (AMEXCID), the National Coordination for Civil Protection (CNPC) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) have implemented PRERADE project [“Preparation for a better Response, Recovery and Reconstruction - Learning from the Ethnography of Disasters”] through which testimonies of the protagonists during the earthquakes have been compiled and which can be disseminated as lessons learned for future disaster scenarios. This publication contains 13 testimonies of those who were in Mexico in the front lines responding to the disaster from the health, education, culture, first response, international cooperation and reconstruction sectors. These testimonies are an important reference for Mexicans and for all those who live in earthquake-prone regions in the world. 7 Libro Terremoto INT ENG_0110.indd 7 05/11/20 17:19 PROLOGUES 12 The governments of Mexico and Japan, 30 years collaborating in disaster risk reduction Yasushi Takase Japanese Ambassador to Mexico 14 PRERADE allows us to describe METHODOLOGY the facts truthfully Gustavo Cabrera 23 Preparedness for better General Director of Technical response, recovery and and Scientific Cooperation reconstruction; learning of AMEXCID from disaster ethnography (PRERADE) 16 Towards a more prepared societya 24 Presentation of PRERADE Oscar Zepeda General Director of National 30 Preparation of PRERADE Coordination of Civil Protection 36 Utilization of PRERADE 18 Disaster risk preparedness saves lives Frederic Vacheron Representative of UNESCO FIRST in Mexico RESPONSE 45 “Highways and roads were blocked by debris from collapsed houses” 53 “Collapsed buildings, gas leaks, fires, explosions in different areas of Mexico City” Libro Terremoto INT ENG_0110.indd 8 05/11/20 17:19 INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY 63 “You had to take advantage of this solidarity, first of the EDUCATION civil society of our country, AND CULTURE but also of the international community” 101 “Several schools were damaged (...), most 71 “I acknowledge the Mexican were built without following people’s vocation to help the building codes and but, sometimes, they stand regulations” in the way” 109 “Several activities conducted during the drill were not followed at the time of the real emergency” HEALTH 117 “Keep the integrity and 83 “Mexico´s strength authenticity of the property” is its people” 125 “Nothing is demolished, 91 “Shelter, shelter!” everything is restored” “the shake was very strong and didn’t allow us to move anywhere” RECONSTRUCTION 137 “Journalists asked me how many buildings are going to be demolished?” 145 “We rescued adobe houses” 153 “Haste is not a good advisor for the reconstruction process” 9 Libro Terremoto INT ENG_0110.indd 9 05/11/20 17:19 Libro Terremoto INT ENG_0110.indd 10 05/11/20 17:19 11 Libro Terremoto INT ENG_0110.indd 11 05/11/20 17:19 THE GOVERNMENTS OF MEXICO AND JAPAN, 30 YEARS COLLABORATING IN DISASTER RISK REDUCTION This report is the summary of the earthquake and tsunami” that describes Preparedness for better Response, Recovery the actions by timeline for both public and Reconstruction; Learning from Disaster and private stakeholders in case of large Ethnography (PRERADE) project, which scale earthquake and tsunami in 2017. has been implemented by UNESCO in the This PRERADE report has been developed collaboration of the Government of Mexico, utilizing the experience of this Guide and the Government of Japan, and many adapting to the context of Mexico. stakeholders in both countries. Mexico and Japan have enjoyed 400 years of Following the earthquakes that occurred friendship and collaborated in many sectors. in Mexico in 2017, PRERADE project was In the field of disaster risk reduction, the planned and implemented to provide a National Center for Disaster Prevention framework to develop the mechanisms on (CENAPRED), which was established by the response, recovery, and reconstruction the collaboration of Mexican and Japanese by the Government of Mexico, health Governments, celebrates his 30 years organizations, and related public and private anniversary this year. stakeholders. In the aftermath of the earthquakes that Japan suffered great damage from the occurred in Mexico in 2017, the Japanese Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and Government supported the Government Tsunami in 2011. Responding to this disaster, and the people of Mexico through the Japanese Government developed dispatching Japan’s Disaster Relief Team, the “Guide for responding to large scale reconstructing the collapsed schools with Libro Terremoto INT ENG_0110.indd 12 05/11/20 17:19 the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects Programme. Mr. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the President of Mexico, pledged to strengthen the disaster risk reduction following the earthquakes in 2017. This project is to support this direction of the government of Mexico and to contribute to the development of policies on disaster risk reduction in Mexico. Finally, I would like to finish by expressing my wish to further strengthen the relationship between Mexico and Japan, and the continuous success of the project partners, such as UNESCO, Mexican Government and all actors involved. Yasushi Takase Japanese Ambassador to Mexico 13 Libro Terremoto INT ENG_0110.indd 13 05/11/20 17:19 PRERADE ALLOWS US TO DESCRIBE THE FACTS TRUTHFULLY In the last three decades, the concepts of of the Letters of Relations of Hernan Cortes in disaster and vulnerability have been used the conquest of the Aztec Empire. very commonly and became part of the discourses and public policies. We cannot Description is an explanation of vision. An master the risks, without considering the ordered description or a methodology alteration of the natural space by the hand allows us to understand and interpret things of man, under the argument of adapting the as if we were in the same place, despite to habitat to human conditions. be many kilometers away. Ethnography is this ordered technique with the method of Accordingly, it has been a concern of being able to describe with such veracity, to human knowledge, to find an answer to such a degree that one can imagine, just by the many questions that are asked after an closing one’s eyes, being in that place. For event occurred that caused a calamity. The further reference, it is enough to read Claude description and analysis were a process of Lévi-Strauss’s text called “Sad Tropics”, the casuistic explanation of catastrophic which can be considered one of the greatest events.