Story highlights Alice Driver: When Tuesday's earthquake hit, I was on a moving plane on the runway at Mexico City airport

When I eventually departed several hours later, I looked down on my beloved city and was reminded that the road to recovery had only just begun, writes Driver

Alice Driver is a freelance journalist based in Mexico City. Driver's long form writing and documentary photography have been featured in The New York Times, Cosmopolitan, The Atlantic, Oxford American and others. The views expressed in this commentary are her own.

(CNN) When the earthquake hit, I was on a moving plane on the runway at Mexico City airport. I felt the plane tilt and sway as if it would crash to the ground. Looking out the window, I saw the entire airport swaying and people fleeing the building in droves.

The significance of the day wasn't lost on me. Today marks the anniversary of the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, which killed over 5,000 people and was the most destructive in the city's history. The city has proved resilient and managed to rebuild in its wake, but it will need all the help it can get -- in the form of both volunteers and donations -- to recover this time around.

Alice Driver

When the earthquake eventually stopped after what felt like 30 seconds, my phone lit up. "I saw photos of cracks in the airport. Are you ok?" texted Mexico City photographer Rodrigo Jardón.

Mexico City-based photojournalist Adriana Zehbrauskas, who reports regularly for The New York Times, posted a photo of her office on Facebook showing a room strewn with fallen paintings and books, and one showing her neighbors fleeing down a crumbling stairway. Other friends shared videos of buildings collapsing and pleaded via social media for help for their neighbors who were trapped beneath rubble.

And then I started receiving photos of the damage to the airport and parts of the road in front of the airport where the asphalt had opened up like the jaws of a shark.

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