Mexico City shimmies over earthquake prediction

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Will Mexico City be destroyed by an earthquake on Thursday? A rumor that has rumbled for months around chat rooms and street corners hit the pages of the national daily newspaper El Universal over the weekend.

Essayist Hector de Mauleon poked fun at the latest doomsday scenario which is warning chilangos, as capital residents are known, to flee the city by Wednesday night. An alleged shaman named Minik Zek Balam has predicted that Mexico City will be hit by a temblor ‘of such intensity that...no stone will remain standing.’ As yet, no one has been able to produce this Mayan mystic, who supposedly predicted the devastating quake of 1985.

So far there has been no rush for the exits. But it’s not surprising that this bit of Internet gossip has shaken up some people here. The ‘85 quake measured 7.8 on the Richter scale and killed 10,000 people in Mexico City, according to official estimates. Some Mexicans believe as many as 10 times that number perished. Many residents remain emotionally scarred. A small temblor in April sent thousands of capital dwellers into the streets clutching valuables. Some had to be treated for panic attacks.

The only upside of a cyberspace prankster scaring the pants off people in a seismic zone is that it motivates them to get prepared. An insurance agent told La Plaza that her phone has been buzzing over the past few weeks with calls from property owners wanting to buy earthquake policies.

Posted by Marla Dickerson in Mexico City