a prayer

tonight
regardless of your religion or believes
even if you are an atheist
it would be a good idea to say a little prayer
for the people in China

those devastating earthquakes

and i guess for me is such a touchy subject
'cause i somehow relate in experience

i was 16 years old
when the devastating earthquakes of 1985
brought Mexico City to ruins...

i was in high-school summer vacation
and my mother was getting ready to go to work
she wake me up...
"está temblando, bere, despierta!"
and after surely the hardest earthquake i have feel in my life
the electricity went out and for about 2 hours
we knew not much of what had happened around the city

but about 9 am, a neighbor came with a TV operated by batteries
and i started to see what had happened around the city...

buildings that you have seen every day! on your way to work
or school, were on the ground destroyed now!!!
well-known landmarks, places that you grew-up around...
all in a little over a minute were gone, disappeared for good
and as the weeks went by, another person that you knew
or heard of, friends of friends, and relatives you forgot
added to the list of lost people...

and the telephones, and all communications to Mexico City
for damaged for good, leaving a city of millions in a total
state of chaos and death...
i remember the endless days were the TV channels working
would just report names of families that were OK
so people in other parts of the country could hear from the ones
that were living still in the city...

according to Wiki -that i don't really trust that much, but...

[As a result of the earthquake, according to official government statistics, over 9,000 people were killed, 30,000 injured, and 100,000 left homeless. 416 buildings were destroyed and over 3,000 seriously damaged.]

Many residents of Mexico City dispute the official statistics, and believe that deaths from the quake exceeded 60,000 and more likely approached 100,000. Their reason for doubt is that their one-party government (at the time) was infamous for under-playing negative statistics whenever possible .

the nightmare begun... and my nobody who lived in Mexico City
back then, can say, that the nightmare that followed
the next days didn't changed their lives

and from BBC, one from those old days

[Disaster zone, Mexico City
Most of the damage, however, was caused 250 miles (400 km) away in Mexico City, which was declared a disaster zone.
Telephone links were cut, and a communications tower burst into flames, leaving television broadcasts monitored in neighbouring Guatemala the only source of information.
Television reports said hundreds of people are trapped in rubble, and more than a third of all buildings have been damaged.
Clouds of dust hung over the city centre, and broken glass and chunks of cement littered the streets.
There was a strong smell of gas and the city government issued a radio appeal for people not to light matches.
Collapsed buildings
Several high-rise hotels collapsed entirely, as well as a section of the city's huge medical centre. Many buildings were on fire. The underground system also failed, stranding hundreds of people.
Many people gathered on street corners, several weeping and some fainting. Others joined rescue workers digging through rubble in a frantic search for survivors.]

and some painful images
and i think is worth to mention
that the people that you see digging there
looking for buried victims were not
city workers, they were complete families
helping to look for lost relatives, friends,
neighbors... all Mexico-city inhabitants
worked together to rescue whoever could be
still alive



these are sad memories, but sometimes
is good to remember the bad things to appreciate
what we have every day... and the people of China
is lacking today
a warm home, and the possibility of being not there...

so, for the people in China
i say a humble prayer tonight
and hope you say one too