Forty years after the earthquake, Elena Poniatowska relives the human stories of 1985.

A fine chronicler , one of the most recognized in the Spanish language, Elena Poniatowska remembers the 1985 earthquake through its human stories , among them that of a short man who forty years ago became a giant.

"I think about the earthquake and I remember an extraordinary mole; they called him La Pulga, and he was short like me, but brave. He would go into tunnels, pound the ground, and sense if anyone was trapped . He came to my house several times," the writer said in an interview.

At 93, Poniatowska , winner of the 2013 Cervantes Prize, sometimes forgets names, but her retrospective memory retains the lucidity of youth . She doesn't understand why she's being interviewed about the tragedy of September 19, 1985, because she wrote a book about it, Nada, nadie. Las voces del temblor (Nothing, Nobody. The Voices of Tremors ), but she agrees to remember, one of her favorite pleasures.

"I was teaching a literature workshop for women and told them the next class would be held on the street. I sent them to collect testimonials, and they did very well, " she says.

The book reveals human stories of pain. It features a choir, with several contributors led by Poniatowska, who in those days would repeat to her writing partners the storyteller's maxim: "Don't tell me, show me."

With that premise , the volume tells human anecdotes, some as gruesome as the one about the hole that opened in the ground and swallowed an apartment building where 300 people lived.

Poniatowska walks down the 17-step staircase from her bedroom to the living room of her home in Chimalistac, south of the capital, several times a day. Most of the time, she wears athletic clothes that remind her of her younger days when she practiced swimming.

She doesn't swim anymore, but the ups and downs keep her resilient. She recently celebrated 72 years as an active journalist and enjoys recreating the memories of the past.

"I'm not a psychologist, but I do know one thing: that in that tragedy, Mexicans showed a solidarity they couldn't even imagine . Many women came down from where the richest people live, in castle-like houses. They brought food and jugs of water to the victims; some of them even found out that Tepito existed in those days," she says, referring to a working-class neighborhood in the city.

All of this is written in his book, recently republished by Seix Barral, which is heavily critical of the lack of interest of politicians , some of whom are more interested in honoring Nancy, the wife of President Ronald Reagan, than in caring for the victims.

"Some people come here to campaign, to win political and publicity triumphs at our expense," the book denounces.

Poniatowska's fiction has been recognized with numerous awards , but when it came to recounting what happened forty years ago, the author returned to her seed of life: journalism.

" It was impossible to write fiction in that book . It would have been disrespectful to people's pain. That's why I stuck to the facts. It was exciting to follow the trail of tragedy in our Mexico City, which is a multi-story city," he says.

It was the largest catastrophe in the history of its capital, causing some 40,000 deaths , according to data from the Red Cross, rescue brigade members and hospital staff.

The city's main baseball park was used as a morgue ; the caring men who went underground to save lives were dubbed moles; people from countless countries are helping Mexico. These are stories that Nothing, Nobody. The Voices of the Earthquake tells. And these days, they are relived by the people.

" Our Mexico City is like a volcano , and those who live near the eruption explode," he says, and it's almost an invitation to read his book full of humanity.