The 1985 Mexico City earthquake struck in the early morning of 19 September at 07:17:50 (CST) with a moment magnitude of 8.0 and a maximal Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). The event caused serious damage to the Greater Mexico City area and the deaths of at least 5,000 people. The sequence of events included a foreshock of magnitude 5.2 that occurred the prior May, the main shock on 19 September, and two large aftershocks. The first of these occurred on 20 September with a magnitude of 7.5 and the second occurred seven months later on 30 April 1986 with a magnitude of 7.0. They were located off the coast along the Middle America Trench, more than 350 kilometres (220 mi) away, but the city suffered major damage due to its large magnitude and the ancient lake bed on which Mexico City sits. The event caused between three and five billion USD in damage as 412 buildings collapsed and another 3,124 were seriously damaged in the city.

Colonia Obrera is an administrative neighborhood of the borough of Cuauhtémoc in the center of Mexico City. It was established in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and became home to many artisans and industrial workmen. Up to the early 1980s, a number of sewing factories were still located here, but the 1985 Mexico City earthquake destroyed many, including the Topeka factory in which many of the seamstresses died inside. Today, the area has a high crime rate but there have been efforts to revitalize it.