Mexico’s strongest quake kills 61

Hurricane Katia strikes the east

JUCHITAN DE ZARAGOZA, Mexico, Sept 9, (Agencies): Police, soldiers and emergency workers raced to rescue survivors from the ruins of Mexico’s most powerful earthquake in a century, which killed at least 61 people, as storm Katia menaced the country’s eastern coast Saturday with heavy rains.

In the southern region hit hardest by the quake, emergency workers looked for survivors -- or bodies -- in the rubble of houses, churches and schools that were torn apart in the 8.1-magnitude quake.

President Enrique Pena Nieto said 45 people were killed in Oaxaca state, 12 in Chiapas and four in Tabasco. But the actual death toll could be over 80, according to figures reported by state officials.

Meanwhile storm Katia made landfall in the east as a Category One hurricane and hours later was downgraded to a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 45 miles (70 kms) per hour.

The storm was bringing rains likely to cause “lifethreatening flash floods and mudslides, especially in areas of mountainous terrain” the US National Hurricane Center said.

The 8.1 magnitude quake off the southern coast late Thursday was stronger than a devastating 1985 temblor that flattened swathes of Mexico City and killed thousands.

The tremor rattled Mexico City and shook Guatemala and El Salvador, but the Oaxacan town of Juchitan bore the brunt of the disaster, with sections of the town hall, a hotel, a church, a bar and other buildings reduced to rubble.

Nieto flew to the battered town to oversee rescue efforts. The town’s mayor, Gloria Sanchez, called it “the most terrible moment” in Juchitan’s history.

Facades of shattered buildings, fallen tiles and broken glass from shop fronts and banks littered the pavements of Juchitan while heavily armed soldiers patrolled and stood guard at areas cordoned off due to the extent of the damage.