MEXICO CITY — Phantom earthquakes strike in the middle of the night, forcing the dreamers out of bed and into a state of panic. Others, their bodies running on five days of adrenaline, find sleeping and even eating impossible. False news reports ricochet through social media, fueled by fear.

While Mexico City’s physical recovery following last Tuesday’s earthquake is well underway, as streets and businesses open and the heaving rhythm of the capital returns, the mental recovery is only just starting. A manic dread hangs over the city as people wrestle with the lost comforts they once enjoyed in their neighborhoods and, more broadly, their lives.

There are reminders everywhere: buildings buckling, floes of concrete and brick spilling across sidewalks, familiar streets bifurcated by strands of red and yellow emergency tape and patrolled by soldiers in uniform. Service tents brim with volunteers, looking for ways to help, to turn angst into action.

Nearly 4,000 buildings were damaged by the quake, and residents of high-rises wonder if their buildings may fall before they can make their way downstairs. And over the weekend, the trauma of last Tuesday was brought to the surface again as light tremors from an earthquake in southern Mexico on Saturday lightly rocked the capital, sending residents fleeing into the streets barefoot and in sleepwear.