From a New York Times column by Bret Stephens headlined “How Earthquakes Test Our Souls and Our Governments”:

In every life there are a few indelible dates: the birth of a child, the death of a parent, a national tragedy such as 9/11.

An indelible date for me is Sept. 19, 1985.

I was an 11-year-old boy living in Mexico City, in a car on my way to school, a few minutes after 7 a.m. Suddenly the road began to sway; the car swerved from one side of the road to the other. It felt as if we were flying. This went on for nearly three minutes.