ABC Radio Australia offers us a peek into Mexico City (prior to earthquake). Imagine being a business with a payroll to meet. Imagine being an employee with a paycheck to earn.
Mexico City a ‘ghost town’ in outbreak
Australian visitors and residents in Mexico City have described surreal scenes as people stay off the streets to avoid the growing swine flu epidemic.
With many public places like shops and restaurants already shut, Mexico’s Government has ordered the closure of all schools across the country.
Australian Alice Finnerty has been living in Mexico City for two years. She is a nanny who looks after premature babies and she is six months pregnant.
But when ABC Radio spoke to her, she was outside, without a face mask.
"I’m sitting in a park, so we’re out, we don’t have face masks on, but there’s about a third of the people around us as there normally would be and I guess half the people I’m looking at have got face masks on, people walking past have got face masks on," she said.
Slowly shut
Ms Finnerty says she has watched Mexico City slowly shut down over the past few days.
"I live in an area that’s got lots of cafes and restaurants, and they’re all closed. So we went out on the weekend to go and get a steak and all the restaurants were closed," she said.
Dimity Huckel is another Australian living in Mexico City.
"The city itself is very, very quiet. It’s bizarre to see a 23-million person city as nearly a ghost town," he said.
"There are some people walking down the streets. They are wearing face masks, some of them are wearing gloves, and obviously those with little babies, the babies are fully wrapped with blankets and with masks on as well.
No panic
"I think they’re worried, although they’re relatively calm at this point. We haven’t experienced any panic.
"We’ve decided to stay in the house for the rest of the week. Having been out all weekend, we’ve decided to isolate ourselves."
Her husband Keri Ramirez says one of the world’s biggest cities is crippled.
"I have been in Mexico City for more than 30 years now. I actually spent a few years living in Sydney, but to be honest the last days have been very, very different compared to what is usually a normal day in Mexico City. In the last three or four days, it’s really like a ghost town," he said.
My restless thoughts are with the people in Mexico City as they wend their way through the next several weeks.
