As sirens began blaring at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, personnel and visitors at Chapala City Hall calmly but swiftly poured out of the front door and gathered on the median strip outside under the supervision of Civil Protection and Fire Department officers.
Around three minutes elapsed before the building was declared empty and an “all clear” announced.
A similar scenario played out simultaneously at the former town hall, other government offices, several large stores and the Preparatoria Chapala during the annual September 19 earthquake evacuation drill. The exercise is practiced nationwide every year on the same date and hour, marking the anniversary of the 8.0 magnitude quake that devastated Mexico City and claimed thousands of lives in 1985, and a less deadly one that caused extensive damage in 2017.