Seismicity

The country of Mexico sits on the world’s most seismically active zone, the Ring of Fire. Mexico has a complex landscape making it vulnerable to a variety of natural disasters and is particularly prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity.

Most of the country sits atop the North American Plate and the undersea Cocos Plate in the Pacific Ocean is constantly trying to push below the North American Plate causing tension. Within this zone is a section of a fault known as the Guerrero Gap that stretches 230 kilometers long from Acapulco to Papanoa. The Guerrero Gap has been “quiet” for over 100 years and specialists fear that the accumulation of energy throughout the years can trigger a large earthquake with the potential of severe damage at any point. 

Mexico has 37 Holocene volcanoes which are inactive and 12 active volcanoes. The three most active volcanoes in the country are the Popocatepetl, Colima, and El Chichon. 

In the event of an emergency, Mexico has educated its people on their alert systems. In the event of an earthquake, the country uses a warning system called SASMEX that reads any incoming seismic activity and will notify people of an earthquake approaching in the next 60-seconds. While it’s not a lot of time to reach, it notifies people they need to be ready for impact and recovery plans if needed. There are radio sensors all over the country that will send alerts to state and local governments as well as alerting emergency services. 

There is a similar system that will alert the public of volcanic activity if they live near an active volcano. There is a traffic light that uses green, yellow, and red lights to identify the predictability of an eruption occurring at the current time. Green = Normal; little to no activity. Yellow = Alert; increased seismic activity. Red = Alarm; major activity/evacuate. 

The most vulnerable to any natural disasters would of course be those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged due to the lack of resources, but Mexico continues to work to provide accessible resources country-wide. 

Sources: 

https://blog.casai.com/blog/earthquake-safety-in-mexico-city/

https://sites.google.com/site/thesmokingmountain94/

https://www.worlddata.info/america/mexico/volcanos.php

https://phys.org/news/2021-09-seismic-zone-quake-hit-mexico.html#:~:text=On%20September%2019%2C%201985%20an,dead%2C%20mainly%20in%20the%20capital.