Mexicans conduct nationwide earthquake drill

Some 6.5 million residents here and in other parts of the country took part in an earthquake drill Wednesday, the 27th anniversary of a devastating earthquake that killed up to 40,000 people in the capital. Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard stressed the importance of preparing for a disaster such as the 8.1-magnitude quake that leveled several residential towers in downtown Mexico City in the early hours of Sept. 19, 1985. Ebrard said some 17,000 public and private buildings participated in the emergency drill, which for the first time extended to 21 states throughout the country, including quake-prone Guerrero on Mexico's Pacific coast, which served as the simulated epicenter for Wednesday's drill. The capital's Secretariat of Public Security monitored the event via 15,000 video cameras installed at various locations around the city. The drill included mock evacuations of homes and businesses, and helped measure the reaction time of 1,600 rescue workers who were to fan out to 60 high-risk areas as quickly as possible should a quake occur. "We are increasingly better prepared for these types of emergencies," said the city's Civil Protection Secretary, Elias Moreno Brizuela. The 1985 earthquake is considered by many as a watershed moment in Mexico's history as an apparently overwhelmed government failed to take immediate action, leaving citizens to organize rescue efforts that marked the beginning of a grassroots opposition movement.