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Deadly Mexican Earthquake Shakes Belize
posted (September 8, 2017)
Last night at a few minutes to 11:00, Belizeans all across the west and north felt their beds and walls shaking. Those were the tremors coming from a powerful earthquake off Mexico's west coast near it's border with Guatemala. At least 58 persons were in Mexico by the country's most powerful quake in a century.

The effects of the quake were felt as far out as Mexico City, Guatemala, and of course, Belize got a little taste of it as well. If you're like me, you were terrified, while others didn't even know it happened. Today we went out to Albert Street to sample reaction to the quake.

Interviewee 1
"I was sleeping and I woke up and when I realize it was a tremor I went outside and start to give God thanks and praise and beg for his mercy."

Interviewee 2
"To be honest I didn't feel anything. I was dead asleep."

Interviewee 3
"Just a little concern, just a little shaking that occurred. This one was just a little slight shaking."

Interviewee 4
"Last night I was on the phone and thing talking to one of my friends in America and all of a sudden I see the whole bathroom started to shake and I was like what the heck, and then I started to show it to them and they were like get out of that house, because it might collapse. So when I call one of my buddy he told me that they were outside the house right now because the house felt like it was about to fall. When I look outside all the trees were rocking."

Interviewee 5
"I didn't know it was an earthquake. I was in a waterbed. My bed was just moving and floating and I am like what's going on? Am I dreaming and then I said no, let me start praying and then like about 4am my niece call me and ask if I know it was an earthquake. Am like no, but my bed was like I was in a waterbed."

Interviewee 6
"I did feel it, but I didn't get scared. I was just wondering what was really happening here. But I wasn't afraid."

Reporter
"Were you at home?"

Interviewee 6
"Yes I was already in my bed."

Reporter
"Did you see things shaking?"

Interviewee 6
"I went out in the kitchen and I saw all the glasses shaking, but I wasn't afraid."

Interviewee 7
"I was in my bed. When I got up the morning and I checked social media I see everyone was posting about the earthquake. Some people posts some pictures about their wall cracks and what's not. I didn't know it was that serious. I was just sleeping in my bed. I am a hard sleeper."

Interviewee 8
"This tremor, it happened around 10pm. It kind of frightened me. It shook the TV little violently, but if I didn't held on to it, it would have fallen."

Interviewee 9
"I was in my friend house at a party there, but the chandelier was shaking. We came outside and saw the Scotiabank sign jumping."

Interviewee 10
"I was in my house sitting down and all of a sudden I felt the trembling and my wife told me, she said to be careful with the TV because it might fall."

Interviewee 11
"My house was shaking. The TV and my bed was shaking. I felt kind of frightened."

Reporter
"And did you go outside?"

Interviewee 11
"Yes I stepped outside and saw the vehicles shaking and the house."

Interviewee 12
"Immediately I felt it. I realized what it was. I said a prayer for safety upon everyone and at the same time I called down to my nephew and ask him why are you shaking the bed like that? And he said no its moving. Then I realized that something is happening."

Interviewee 13
"I was working and I felt everything shaking, but I just stand still right there."

Interviewee 14
"In Democracia we felt that. It shook my cement house. I wanted to know if my bed would have been broken."

Interviewee 15
"I was in my bed. When I felt it I thought it was my dog. I have a Pitbull. It was my husband who told me that it was an earthquake and we ran out and we went on the sand to feel the ground shaking. It was my first experience."

Interviewee 16
"I felt the earthquake. I was in bed. I wasn't really asleep. I felt the bed shaking. I thought it was my imagination. I got up and I realize my floor was shaking and then I went to my daughter's room and she was jumping up because her room was shaking and it lasted for a while. I could hear my chandelier shaking downstairs."

And while Belizeans can marvel at the odd experience, there is real loss and suffering in Mexico, mostly in the city of Juchitán de Zaragoza, where 36 people died.

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