On September 18th, 2017, Mexico was hit with a devastating earthquake that reached a magnitude of 7.1.  This happened in southern Mexico, and was one of three recent earthquakes. This has affected many people because it has ruined homes, schools, hospitals, and everything in its radius. The search for people continued over two weeks, before almost everyone was found, the death toll was 369 people and more than 6,000 injured.  The earthquake lasted about 20 seconds, but was echoed by many aftershocks.  Many people could not contact loved ones because of the many telephone poles that had came down. This left numerous people feeling unsafe and anxious for hours, and even days.

After speaking with faculty members and students of Ipswich High School, it was made clear that many people around Ipswich don’t have much experience with earthquakes.  After asking Michael D’Agostino, a senior at the high school, about any experiences he’s had with earthquakes in the past, he said he does remember one, but wasn’t scared because “the shake was really little”.  Also speaking with Mrs. Culkeen, a teacher about if this has affected anyone she knows personally, she said, “one of my daughters friends has family there, but none personally”.

Recently there has been many other natural disasters, and because of this, the earthquake that has hit Mexico seems to have been overshadowed by all of the other tragedies. This has left the people of Mexico with little donation and not much attention. This being said, many agree that fundraising locally will help. When asking people from Ipswich High School about how we should raise money, many agree doing fundraisers that have correlation to Mexico might be better than something like your everyday car wash. Things like piñata parties could attract kids and families to raise money. Another idea they had was taco nights that could be held at En Fuego. Michael D’Agostino suggested, “school officers would be a good place to start fundraising”.  Mrs. Culkeen had another approach on how to help the people of Mexico. She says that,  “donating supplies to make everything more sanitary, for people when they’re walking in sewage, it’s gross.” and goes onto saying “(They need) More things to take care of the babies, like diapers and clothing”.  It’s sad to see all of these disasters, but this is falling behind on receiving donations because it seems to be less prominent in the news.

We can also help by publicizing how Mexico is doing, and what they would prefer people to get for them, because although receiving a teddy bear is nice it may be more beneficial if they received things such as clean water or money to repair the buildings that have been destroyed. This being said, the only way us as a nation can help the people of Mexico is if everyone does their part. This means starting locally and doing just the little things to help, because although it may not seem like a lot, it can and will save the lives of many.