Category Archives: Carnival posts

April 20, 2017 · 7:00 am

Surviving a Quake in La Yacata

earthquake

Mexico is located on three large tectonic plates(Cocos plate, Pacific plate, and North American plate) which makes it one of the most earthquake-prone and seismologically active countries in the world.

In 1985, Mexico City was hit with a series of earthquakes. The foreshocks, aftershocks and main earthquake with a magnitude of 8.1, caused somewhere between 5,000 and 45,000 deaths with many of the bodies never recovered, at least 50,000 injuries and left another 100,000 homeless. Mexico City was built an ancient lake bed, which further added to the instability of the area. Over the course of the destruction, 420 buildings collapsed completely and another 3,124 buildings were seriously damaged.

Odds are if you are in Mexico for a long enough time, you will experience an earthquake. We’ve even had tremors in Moroleon since we’ve lived here. It’s par and parcel of living in such a seismically active country.

So how can you optimize your chances of survival in the event of an earthquake?

Experts recommend staying indoors and moving to the interior walls, taking refuge under well-built tables or desks. Stay away from areas near windows, hanging wall objects, heavy furniture or fireplaces. The first floor of a building is safer than subsequent floors. On the first floor, the danger comes from being covered in rubble. On other floors, there is the additional danger of falling and then being covered with rubble, exacerbating injuries. Although the professionals like to say that since the 1985 earthquake, buildings in Mexico have been redesigned and reinforced to withstand earthquakes, we all know how permits are bought and sold and contractors skimp on materials to pocket just a little more.

If you are outdoors during an earthquake, move to an open area where you are less likely to be hit by falling objects, such as buildings, trees or power lines. Stay away from bridges and keep alert for sinkholes. Personally, I think outdoors would be much safer in the event this natural disaster. Fortunately, La Yacata has quite a bit open space, thus putting it at the top of a survival environment in the event of an earthquake.

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April 19, 2017 · 7:00 am

Surviving a Pandemic in La Yacata

A pandemic is defined as an epidemic of infectious disease that has spread through large regions of human populations.

smallpox aztec

But, is a pandemic a real possibility? Well, yes. Everyone knows that the smallpox pandemic killed millions of indigenous people in Mexico after its introduction in Veracruz with the arrival of Panfilo de Narvaez in 1520. The population of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan was decimated and Cortes and his men (having that European immunity) took possession in 1521.

Ahh, but smallpox has been eradicated right? So no worries. Well, that doesn’t mean Mexico hasn’t been affected by other pandemics.

flu 1918

In 1918-1920, the population of Mexico was again dramatically reduced by an influenza pandemic. That particular pandemic was responsible for 20-50 million deaths worldwide.

swine flu map

More recently, Mexico was again hit with a pandemic this time with the “swine flu” in March and April of 2009 with somewhere between 113,000 to 375,000 people having been infected.

Zikamain_051216_880

Another pandemic waiting to happen was reported in 2016. Cases of the Zika virus have been reported as far north as Mexico. Although it seems the large-scale pesticide preventative measures are causing far more damage than the actual virus.

So what’s the best way to survive a pandemic?

Isolation.

La Yacata is sparsely populated and we are, for the most part, self-sufficient. We already have quite a few of the things that are recommended by survivalists–food, washboard, clothesline, water collection storage containers and so on. We also are fully capable of growing our own food when needed. Thus making La Yacata a great place to ride out the next pandemic in Mexico.

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April 18, 2017 · 7:00 am

Surviving an Oil shortage in La Yacata

oil production

Mexico is the eleventh largest producer of oil in the world and the thirteenth largest in exportation of oil. It has the seventeenth largest oil reserves and is the fourth largest producer in the Western Hemisphere. In 1938, Petroleos Mexicanos was founded, otherwise known as Pemex, when the Mexican government nationalized all oil resources and facilities. This expropriation didn’t make the US happy and it put financial pressure on Mexico through boycotts.

The US put the pressure on again when Pena Nieto was elected. Bowing to demands, the president changed the 27 and 28 amendments of the Mexico constitution thereby allowing private and foreign investors to conduct exploration and extraction operations within Mexico once again. As of April 2016, private companies were allowed to open gas stations in Mexico, invading the previous monopoly held by Pemex, with the condition that the fuel would be directly purchased from Pemex. Full liberalization is scheduled for 2018 making it clear that Pena Nieto’s intentions are to privatize Mexico’s oil reserves completely.

Although some are touting this as a landmark advancement for Mexico, it just may be what leads to a full-scale oil shortage.  In fact, it’s not unheard of for the Mexican government to manufacture oil and gas shortages in order to control a volatile area.

So what would happen in the event of an oil shortage? The impacts go beyond just fuel for our vehicles.

Some suggest that we will quickly become cannibals because we would be unable to obtain food. See, natural gas is used to make nitrogen fertilizers which are used in large-scale farming operations. Tractors and harvesters need oil based products to plant and collect the food. As all those chemically grown crops are not consumed where they are grown, oil is necessary to transport the food to the supermarket. And of course, you need an oil dependant vehicle to get from your house to the supermarket. So cannibalism would be the natural result because EVERYONE has forgotten how to grow their own organic food! We, in La Yacata, have not forgotten. (See Obligatory Organic, Sharecropping, Las tres hermanas, Container Gardening)

An oil shortage would also impact electricity, heating and cooling systems, gas powered vehicles and oil-based products, such as paint, plastic, medicine, toys and more, would become scarce. The interruption in these services and scarcity of these products would cause the total breakdown of society, or so some foretell.

La Yacata has no electricity, so no problem there. (See La Yacata still has no electricity, Chim-chimney, All sizzle and no spark). We currently use a gas stove, but we could switch to leña (wood) or cow patties for cooking without much fuss. We use our fireplace to heat our home on the rare occasions that it is needed. Walking, horseback riding or bicycling could easily replace our motos (motorcycles). In our case, I can’t see that we would be so dreadfully affected that we would succumb to despair and riot in La Yacata.

oil bird

On the flip side, some predict that running out of oil would be a good thing in the long run. We would have cleaner air, less contamination from plastics, no more fracking pollution, and a large-scale move to renewable energy sources and organic, local farming.

How ya like them apples? Sure sounds good to me!

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