Ten years after the earthquake that devastated Mexico and killed at least 6,000 people, survivors and the government differ on Mexico's ability to overcome the devastation.
At least 30,000 mostly female earthquake victims - angry that the government still has not replaced all the housing ruined in the quake - filled the city's main plaza Tuesday to demand permanent shelter for the victims."I am sad," said Carmen Castenon, a garment worker, whose child was disabled by falling rubble and died three years ago. "And I am still fighting for a home."
Government officials, however, tried to emphasize the great efforts Mexicans have made to overcome the damage.
"The enormous constructive force of our society and of our institutions has enabled us - in a relatively short time - to restore the majority of the damage to our nation and to recuperate normality in our capital," said President Ernesto Zedillo in a message Tuesday.
Since the quake, building codes have been made more rigorous, but a strong quake that killed five people Thursday in southern Mexico served as a reminder of the capital's vulnerability.
At 7:19 a.m., the moment 10 years ago when the 8.1-magnitude quake struck, wreaths of white carnations were laid and prayers recited for those who perished as buildings cracked, crackled and collapsed.
"Many of my co-workers died here," said Josefina Lazaga Palma, a 53-year-old clerk at the Juarez Hospital, a 12-story building that collapsed in 1985.
Lazaga Palma said the 7.3-magnitude quake that rocked the capital Thursday, swaying tall buildings, jangled her nerves again. It was one of the biggest quakes since the 1985 disaster.
"It's too much," she said of Thursday's quake, centered about 190 miles southeast of Mexico City. Two children and two adults were crushed to death by falling walls in the countryside, and an elderly man died of a heart attack.