Imagen of the earthquake of september 19, 2017, prevention and social practices

Abstract

To the extent that Mexico City and various states of the country are located in an area of high seismic danger and that their populations have been impacted, with catastrophic results, by earthquakes of great magnitude, it is urgent to work from the institutions of higher education in the construction of a culture of prevention with a comprehensive and multidisciplinary perspective. Based on the above, we have proposed to share some reflections and comment on various research / teaching activities and dissemination of culture that we have carried out in the Career of Psychology at the Facultad de Estudios Superiores, UNAM. As the axis of the discussion, we return to Lomnitz’s questioning in 2004 regarding whether as a society we were prepared for a new great earthquake. Regarding research activities, some works developed around the theme of the social representations of students about the earthquake of September 19, 2017 are described, in particular the presence of the concept of fear in this representation is analyzed. Regarding the substantive function of dissemination, we refer to the multidisciplinary forums that we organize regarding the emergence of various problems that were generated from the impact of the earthquake. Finally, aspects of the Japanese prevention culture are discussed and some final considerations are presented.