By Geoff Smith (@GeoffSmithLNN on Twitter)

U of L students caught in major earthquake in Mexico

Sep 27, 2017 | 12:22 PM

LETHBRIDGE – “A building can’t move like this and stay standing.”

That was one of the first thoughts to race through the mind of Lanna Petterson, one of two University of Lethbridge graduate students caught in an earthquake while conducting research in Mexico Sept. 7.

Petterson, working on a Ph.D. in evolution and behaviour, was planning to be in Juchitan, Oaxaca until Oct. 1. But late on the night of Sept. 7 the Oaxaca region was rocked by a magnitude 8.1 quake. Petterson told Lethbridge News Now she was in a second-floor room when it began.

“It was at night, so we were kind of all in our rooms,” she recounted. “And all of a sudden things started shaking, and it was loud and the building was moving. And we ran to the bottom floor, and then once the shaking thankfully stopped we went outside, and weren’t expecting to see as much damage as there was.”

While their own building only had cracks and broken water mains, nearby structures had been reduced to rubble.

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“We went around the corner and a building had fully collapsed and there were two people underneath. Luckily after quite a while they were able to free them and get them to the hospital.

“But some of the main buildings of the economy were collapsed. People’s homes had no walls standing, or one wall standing. Some buildings were kind of half leaning over. Just incredible structural damage, and loss of life, loss of financial institutions.”

Concerned about aftershocks, Petterson said they spent the night in the open air, before looking at the damage in the daylight. Despite obstructed roads, she was able to leave by bus.

While it’s put her research on hold, she’s concerned about the aid the region will need to get back on its feet.

“People were already cleaning up, but there’s just such immense damage that it’ll take a long time. They’ll need a lot of support to rebuild,” she said.

And for her labmate, Francisco Gomez Jimenez, it’s one of two natural disasters affecting him. His family and friends in Puerto Rico survived Hurricane Maria. He’s on his way to join them on the weekend.