Quake toll rises as hunt for survivors goes on
THE death toll is likely to keep rising after a devastating earthquake hit Mexico City and surrounds yesterday, destroying buildings and sending residents scrambling.
At least 149 people have been reported killed in the second deadliest earthquake to hit Mexico since a 1985 catastrophe that claimed the lives of more than 5000.
Videos and images showed rubble covering streets; cars smashed by fallen debris and groups of people working together to lift large, metal beams that had fallen during the trembling.
The powerful earthquake registered as a 7.1 magnitude tremor, according to the US Geological Survey, and occurred on the anniversary of the cataclysmic 8.0 magnitude 1985 quake that ravaged Mexico City.
The 1985 quake was commemorated by earthquake drills at 11am.
Two hours later, yesterday’s earthquake hit.
Mexico’s seismological survey pegged the preliminary magnitude at 6.8 with the epicentre in the nearby municipality of Puebla, south-east of the capital.
Deaths were climbing in the capital of Mexico City, where Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said at least 30 people had died and structural damage was widespread. The streets were strewn with dust and rubble from more than 40 collapsed buildings.
Mr Mancera offered a glimmer of hope – 50–60 people had been pulled alive from rubble.
Officials in the central state of Morelos said at least 54 people were killed.
At least 26 more deaths were reported in Puebla.
The earthquake comes just weeks after a 8.1 magnitude earthquake hit near the southern states of Oaxaca and Chiapas.
That quake killed about 100 people and sent tremors through into Guatemala.