Days after a deadly earthquake shook parts of Mexico, an Edmonton man living in Mexico City who lived through the ordeal, shared his experience with CTV News.
Graeme Kishiuchi was born and raised in Edmonton, but moved to Mexico City with his wife and two children more than two years ago. He was at home in the family’s high-rise condo when the 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit Tuesday.
“The first five seconds felt like it was about an hour long, trying to actually figure out: ‘Is this really happening?’” Kishiuchi said in a video conferencing interview from Mexico City.
He said objects had started falling from shelves, and doors were opening and slamming shut while the earthquake happened.
Kishiuchi said he quickly texted his wife, who was at work at the time, and their two sons, who were at school.
Everyone was safe – but the ordeal was terrifying.
“This is a huge 25 storey building,” Kishiuchi said. “We’re on the 17th floor, and it’s moving around almost like nothing.
“Like you would pick up a box and shake it around.”
At some moments, he said he feared for his life.
“I was thinking, if this keeps ramping up, is this the last minute for me? It was intense.”
Thankfully, their neighbourhood was relatively undamaged – but just east of them, in older and poorer neighbourhoods, there was some serious damage.
Kishiuchi said about two hours before the earthquake hit, the city ran a fifteen minute earthquake drill, while he was out running errands.
With files from Amanda Anderson and Matthew Woodman
