'A Day of Mourning'

Nearly 370 people lost their lives in the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that struck Mexico City and the surrounding region at 1 p.m. Central Time last September. The calamity occurred just 12 days after an 8.1 magnitude quake struck the country’s southern coast, killing at least 61 people—the strongest seismic event in Mexico in a century. And, in a strange twist of fate, it occurred just two hours after Mexico City had run a preparedness drill in commemoration of the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, which struck on exactly the same date. Mexico is prone to earthquakes because of its location on what seismologists call a “subduction zone,” where the layers of the earth’s crust slide beneath one another.

In 1985, an estimated 5,000 people died and more than 3,000 city structures were destroyed. Since then, the city has worked to strengthen its building codes, better organize its emergency response systems, and train its first responders. The 2017 earthquake was a tragic event, taking the lives of more than 360 people. But this time the city was far more prepared than 32 years before, with a disaster response that was both immediate and effective.

Rafael Gómez Nava, dean of IPADE Business School headquartered in Mexico City, is well aware that his school is in a danger zone and views IPADE as extremely fortunate. No one at the school was injured, and none of its buildings suffered damage. Even so, he says, “without a doubt, last September 19 was a day of tragedy and mourning for Mexico.”

Galvanizing Support

Although Mexico City was well prepared, communities located in the country’s interior and more rural regions were disproportionately affected, particularly the states of Puebla and Morelos, each about 80 miles from the city. Gómez Nava explains that the earthquake originated in an area very close to two educational institutions that partner with IPADE Business School as part of its social responsibility initiative: El Peñón Foundation and Montefalco School, both of which focus on educating children and young people. “There was no human loss or injury within the community of schools,” says Gómez Nava. “However, being so close to the epicenter, many homes, communications, and businesses were greatly affected.”

After the earthquake, IPADE’s administrators and faculty faced three major challenges: organizing a response; communicating with members of the school’s community; and finding allies who could assist in reconstructing damaged or demolished homes and providing funds to those in need. The school organized its response around those challenges.

“There has been no lack of support from the community of alumni, participants, and collaborators of IPADE,” says Gómez Nava. “In addition, our efforts have been joined by the Pan American University campus in Mexico City and Guadalajara.”

To better organize those who wanted to help, the school assigned them to one of three subcommittees—one to gather and deliver food, one to communicate with alumni and donors, and one to manage the reconstruction campaign.

Directly after the earthquake, those assigned to the first subcommittee attended to the general community’s immediate needs by opening donation centers at all three of IPADE’s campuses, based in Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara. Volunteers collected nearly ten tons of donations—including clothing, shoes, water, food, personal hygiene items, and baby items—that it distributed to approximately 500 families that had been affected by the earthquake.

The process has brought to light how much a business school is a part of the community and can help that community emerge stronger after a crisis.

Next, the committee dedicated to reconstruction began working with the two rural schools, where the priority was to discover the status of the families in the community and offer psychological care to those affected. Contacting all of them was difficult, says Gómez Nava, because many lived an hour and a half from the schools, some with little access to communication.

“Both the El Peñón Foundation and the Montefalco School made a census of the families of the students and collaborators, and discovered that 35 houses had to be demolished and others needed repairs,” he says. Next, the reconstruction committee analyzed proposals from nonprofit organizations who could help families rebuild their homes.

The reconstruction committee decided to enlist the support of ¡Échale! A Tu Casa (Go for it! It is your house), an association that has been working on reconstruction for more than 20 years, to repair or reconstruct homes. While many nonprofits focus on rebuilding after earthquakes, ¡Échale! A Tu Casa is unique, says Gómez Nava, “because it makes two- to three-bedroom adobe houses while also creating temporary jobs within the community.”

The nonprofit uses an inexpensive, modular, and energy-efficient “Ecoblock construction system.” With this system, a two-bedroom home can be built using only 2,200 Ecoblocks, which are energy-efficient and earthquake-resistant. According to the nonprofit’s website, a single home costs only MXN22,000 (about US$1,150), and the organization can build 50 homes in three to four months. IPADE has now embarked on a fundraising campaign to pay the cost of rebuilding the 35 homes.

A Social Commitment

IPADE Business School is now looking to the third stage of its response, in which it will grant emergency scholarships to families whose financial livelihoods have been negatively affected as a result of the earthquake.

“It is estimated that about 70 percent of the parents will not be able to cover the quota allocated to them as payment for tuition,” explains Gómez Nava. The business school’s board of trustees, which is composed primarily of IPADE alumni, is now promoting the work of the school and the needs of the families, with the goal of attracting funding for scholarships to help students continue with their studies.

The process has been difficult, says Gómez Nava, but it also has brought to light how much IPADE’s students, faculty, and administrators are a part of the community—and how a business school can help that community emerge stronger after a crisis.

“We view social responsibility as a founding principle of IPADE Business School,” says Gómez Nava, “and we seek to carry out that principle within the community.” 

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Return to the main page of the article “In Case of Emergency” to link to articles about how business schools at Rice University, Sonoma State University, and the University of Virginia responded to crises in their own communities.