Body count rises as Mexico hit by major 7.1 magnitude quake

Many feared trapped under rubble as dozens of buildings collapse

A powerful earthquake has struck central Mexico, killing at least 119 people and toppling dozens of buildings in the capital, Mexico City, officials say.

The capital’s airport has suspended operations after the 7.1 magnitude quake and buildings across the city have been evacuated.

People were feared trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings as rescue teams rushed to the hardest-hit areas and the number of dead is certain to rise.

Graco Ramirez, governor of the central state of Morelos, said 54 had died there, including 12 in the city of Jojutla and four in state capital Cuernavaca.

Mexico state governor Alfredo del Mazo said the tremor killed at least nine people in his state.

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto urged people to avoid the streets so emergency services could easily reach the hardest-hit areas.

The US Geological Survey said the quake was centred near the Puebla state town of Raboso, about 76 miles southeast of Mexico City.

Phone lines were down in parts of the capital, and 3.8 million people were without power in affected areas.

US President Donald Trump tweeted: “God bless the people of Mexico City.

“We are with you and will be there for you.”

The quake came less than two weeks after a tremor killed 90 in the country’s south, and as Mexicans commemorated the anniversary of a 1985 quake that killed thousands. Mexican media broadcast images of multiple downed buildings in densely populated parts of Mexico City and Cuernavaca.

A column of smoke rose from a structure in one central neighbourhood in the capital.

Rescue workers rushed to the site of damaged or collapsed buildings in the capital and onlookers cheered as a woman was pulled from the rubble.

The quake caused buildings to sway sickeningly in Mexico City and sent panicked office workers streaming into the streets, but the full extent of the damage is not yet clear.

Puebla governor Tony Gali tweeted that buildings had been damaged in the city of Cholula including collapsed church steeples.

The new quake appears to be unrelated to the magnitude 8.1 tremor that hit on September 7 off Mexico’s southern coast and which also was felt strongly in the capital.

US Geological Survey seismologist Paul Earle noted that the epicentres of the two quakes are 400 miles apart and most aftershocks are within 60 miles.

God bless the people of Mexico City. We are with you and will be there for you. DONALD TRUMP

AP Rescue workers and volunteers searching a collapsed building in Mexico City.