SIOUX CITY (KTIV) – Jorden and Ricky Osorio say their wedding day was a beautiful and fun day. They got married in Mexico, surrounded by family and friends. However, just two days later when they were cleaning up, their stay in Mexico would get a little shaky.
“I started feeling really dizzy,” said Ricky. “I’m a medical professional so in my head I was already thinking heart attack, stroke, low blood pressure, what’s going on?”
“The next thing we know, there’s a big chandelier above us, and it just — I look up and it’s just swaying back and forth,” said Jorden.
As soon as they saw people running in the streets, Ricky knew exactly what was going on.
“If I know anything from being in the military and working in healthcare, it’s that if local people are running scared, something really bad is happening. So I immediately thought: earthquake.”
Panic took place across the region, as locals ran, screaming outside of houses and buildings. Some buildings, including the hotel where the Osorios stayed, developed damage and cracks from the shaking.
Jorden says even standing on the ground below them was a challenge.
“It kind of reminded me of being like on a lily pad or something like that,” said Jorden. “Like on the water that you float on, you know, and you just, like, can’t get a stable ground. There’s nothing that’s solid to stand on. So walking and even just trying to sit was just very, very hard.”
And that wasn’t the only earthquake the Osorios found themselves in after their wedding.
“Around 3, 3:30 in the morning, another earthquake occurred,” said Ricky. “And we were on the 6th floor, and it felt like the building was yo-yoing back and forth. It was very scary. We were evacuated to the pool area, and also it didn’t feel safe down there. We were very close to the water.”
The earthquake occurred on September 19th, on the 37-year anniversary of a devastating 8.1 earthquake that struck Mexico in 1985, and the 5 year anniversary of a 7.1 quake that hit Mexico on the same day in 2017.
Meanwhile, Sioux City Musketeers CEO and Jorden’s brother, Travis Morgan, was on his way back to the airport with his family when he thought he was driving over a cobblestone road.
However, that turned out to be far from the case.
“All I could think about on this road was, ‘this is a horrible cobblestone road!’” said Morgan. “Because we were just going up and down and getting tossed around everywhere. And I just thought ‘well, it’s a bad cobblestone road.’ That wasn’t a cobblestone road. That was a regular road, we were just in the middle of an earthquake.”
While there were worries of aftershock and a tsunami following the quake, it fortunately didn’t cause significant harm. Only one person was reported dead in all of Mexico, and Morgan didn’t even get delayed on his way back home.
“We didn’t even miss our flight, which was A-OK,” said Morgan. “Especially when there was talk of a possible tsunami. I’m like, get me back to Sioux City right now.”
While the trip didn’t go exactly according to plan, Travis, Jorden and Ricky all say it was certainly one they’ll never forget.
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