It is not as if the town is empty. But it is not as the town is living as it would on any other day. Mexico City is still in the process of discovering how sick it is.

Since the weekend, the city looks like a big hospital. Swine flu, which is all over the front pages of newspapers worldwide, takes the form of a face mask in Mexico City.

Walking around, you can find waitresses, watchmen, taxi drivers and even policemen wearing face masks that remind you of the ones doctors use in surgery. On the news, it seems as if everyone is wearing one. But it's important to take a reality check: the latest polls indicate that only 30% of the population are wearing them.

The general feeling is one of "OK, we have a problem... but we are handling it pretty well". So even though the World Health Organisation has increased the level of the emergency from 3 to 4 (on a scale of 6), people are not panicking.

The assumption of the Mexicans is that if you take the right preventive measures, you avoid the risk. Don't kiss strangers! Don't touch your friend who lives round the corner! Soccer games are being played behind closed doors. Museums aren't opening. Even the Catholic Church decided to suspend their activity on Sunday. The population has accepted the measures in a really mature way. No one complained.

The reality is that Mexico is facing an "emergency health situation" because a virus has managed to mix DNA from humans, pigs and birds. There isn't yet a specific treatment for that. No vaccines, of course, because of the volatile life of those viruses. By good fortune, according to the authorities, affected people are responding pretty well to the two medicines that are being prescribed. Will it be enough? No one can tell one way or the other at the moment.

While I'm writing this blog, Mexico City is shaking. An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.7 moves the city. People evacuated the buildings still wearing their facemasks. The news said there is nothing to be worried about. So take it on that way. Just be worried about the swine flu.

Earthquakes aside, the city is trying to have a normal life, if life in a 22 million-person city can be called normal. In any case, the people have shown their commitment in following recommendations and accepting their own responsibility in this situation: do everything you can to avoid a bigger outbreak. And it looks like we are doing it so far.

More from the Oxfam Press Office at http://www.oxfam.org.uk/news