Author: yr147570

 

A devastating earthquake hit Mexico City a couple of weeks ago. On September 19, 1985, an 8.1 earthquake struck Mexico City around seven in the morning. Exactly 32 years later on September 19th, a 7.1 earthquake struck 100 miles away from the City of Mexico, near Puebla.

Credit: NBC News

I am here in Yonkers, with a family who went to visit Mexico for a couple of days due to a loss of a family member. Martha Sandoval, sits in front of me playing with a piece napkin and folding her hands, as she tells us her horrific experience during the earthquake.

She tells us in Spanish, “Cuando estábamos adrento de la oficina, hablando con la secretaria, la secretaria de pronto empezó a decir que estaba temblando, que saliéramos a fuera y que vaháramos porque estábamos en el segundo piso, que vaháramos para abajo, corriendo, todo el mundo corío para querer bajar por la escalera, estaba bien apretada de gente que no se podía bajar ni detenerse.”

Which translates to, “We were inside a government office talking to the secretary and then all of a sudden, she started telling us, its shaking. She said to go outside and start going down the stairs, since we were on the second floor. We started running downstairs, everyone just started running down the stairs. It was so tight that people couldn’t hold onto the railing and down the stairs.”

Hector Sandoval, a family relative who resides in Cholula, Puebla, has left them in Cholula and agreed to pick them up after he picked up his nieces from school. By the time he arrived to the school, he saw the glass exploding and kids screaming and crying due to the loud explosion of windows.

Meanwhile, in Puebla, Giuliana Amaya, has a different experience. She said, “Puebla has a lot of churches there and they were saying how, part of the churches had fallen down. You know, they were giving us the update, and of course all the lights went out, no water, no electricity, no phone service, so it was more panic because we couldn’t get in touch with our family members and let them know we were ok.”

In Cholula, Puebla, the plaza has many vendors outside posted for people to shop and eat. Before the earthquake hit, many families were enjoying a sunny afternoon, but then as the trees started to move, people started to help everyone get to safety.

Credit: Tania Rendon

Emily Sandoval, describes the actions of people around her during the earthquake, “In her store, there was like a top, and she was underneath it, and this lady came out of nowhere and she was like ‘oh come’ so that way, just in case it falls off, she was there trying to get everyone into safety in a way, she told us not to go under the tree and told lady to get out. I remember this one guy running by to see if his family was ok, but everyone just like in a panic.”

Mexico City felt the earthquakes full potential. In Puebla, parts of churches were on the ground, windows exploded and many people felt the ground moving, while others didn’t feel it as much.

“I thought it was a passing train or a loud truck when everything was happening so, that’s what I thought at first, but then I looked around and everyone was going crazy and what not, and I was like, what, what is going, and my parents told me there’s an earthquake. And I was like what! I was just in a state of shock. It took a big toll on me because I never experienced that,” said Christopher Sandoval.

The current death toll in Mexico is 369 and the damages caused by the two most recent earthquakes can cost Mexico two billion dollars in repairs.

“At the end of the day, if something hits you, you gotta come back stronger, you always gotta remember that,” said Christopher as he hopes that Mexico can rebuilt itself again.

 

 

For my second radio podcast, I wanted to talk about Frida Sofia, the 12-year-old girl who was trapped under the rubble of the elementary school she went too after the 7.1 earthquake hit Mexico. Her name became a big hit on social media, using the #fridasofia. Many people prayed for her safety and hope she would make it alive. The Mexican TV network, Televisa, live stream the rescuers trying to find this little girl and claim to have seen her tiny hand waving and saying she’s tired, according to Slate.com. Turns out this was all a lie and she never excited. Slate states that this trending hashtag was used for more viewership on televisa. The problem with this topic is who can I talk too? If I talk to people of Mexican culture, it’ll probably not be in English, unless I get people who do speak English. But I think it would’ve been better if it were people who were actually there.

My other pitch would be about the challenges 8th graders go through in preparation for high school. What are the steps and how they manage all of it plus school work.

I was am planning to do my podcast about books turning into movies. There are a lot of movies coming out based on books, but as we know the movie doesn’t compare to the book. I would want to invite random people who obviously read the book and watched the movie and for them to tell me their opinion about both. Maybe which one was the worse movie based on a book and which one was head on head with the book.

Listening to a podcast has never been my interest, so finding one was kind of hard for me. I just finished season 12 of Criminal Minds and decided to search some podcast about criminals or crime stories. I did start listening to Serial, but didn’t want to write about it because every knows about it.

I stumbled upon a podcast, Serial Killers, which is a narrative about the killer and who he or she was and why did the killer do the things he or she did. It takes you into a journey to really get to know the killer and its psychological mental state.

This podcast is intended for people who are interested in crime/criminals. The hosts are scripted and from what I have listened to it’s a male and a female talking to each other in a story format and also finish each other’s sentences. The type of advertising they do is during their commercials, and it’s about their sponsors, Casper, hunt a killer, blue apron and The Sinner. I think you can start with any episode because each episode is dedicated to one serial killer, so it depends on which one you are interested on.