Earthquake kills at least 134 in Mexico
Mexico was struck by a powerful earthquake last night that killed at least 134 people and toppled several buildings in the capital. Teams of rescue workers were digging through rubble throughout the night in a desperate search for survivors.
MEXICO was struck by a powerful earthquake last night that killed at least 134 people and toppled several buildings in the capital.
Rescue workers were digging through rubble throughout the night in a desperate search for survivors.
The 7.1 magnitude earthquake came on the anniversary of a devastating 1985 temblor that caused major damage to Mexico City, and it struck as many people took part in an earthquake drill yesterday.
Thousands fled into the streets in panic as the powerful quake rocked several states in the centre of the country.
The epicentre was Atencingo in Puebla state, around 75 miles southeast of Mexico City, and struck at a depth of 32 miles, according to the US Geological Survey, at 1.14pm local time.
Tony Gali, the governor of Puebla, said that church steeples had been toppled in the city of Cholula.
Dozens of buildings collapsed in the capital, where more than 50 people died, and fires broke out in several of them. There were also reports that people were trapped inside damaged buildings.
One video posted on social media showed a large industrial building swaying and then crumbling in a huge cloud of dust and rubble. Mexican TV showed cars crushed by debris.
There was chaos in Mexico City, with traffic jammed to a standstill and ambulances trying to reach those injured.
Hundreds of civilians rushed to help search for people who may have been trapped.
Carlos Mendoza, 30, said that he and other volunteers in Mexico City had been able to pull two people alive from the ruins of a collapsed apartment building after three hours of effort.
“We saw this and came to help,” he said. “It’s ugly, very ugly.”
Another volunteer rescue worker, Mariana Morales, said she saw a building collapsing in a cloud of dust before her eyes as she travelled in a taxi.
“There was the sound of thunder ... then dust and all this,” she said. “The people are organising quickly.”
Jorge Lopez, a 49-year-old Spaniard living in Mexico City, told the AFP news agency that when the earthquake struck, he raced to the school in the central Roma district where his children aged six and three were, to find it collapsed but his offspring safe if terrified.
“We arrived at the school and everyone was crying, everyone was frantic, and the kids were holding on to a rope,” he said. “It’s uncontrollable. You can’t do anything against nature.”
Lazaro Frutis, a 45-year-old who escaped an office building before it crumpled to the ground, said: “We ran outside thinking all was going to collapse around us.
“The worst thing is, we don’t know about our families or anything.”
Police called for calm and cordoned off streets with grotesquely twisted buildings, their reinforcing steel poking out from concrete.
People hugged and comforted each other amid anxiety about loved ones. Many stood around in a daze, not sure where to go or what to do.
Enrique Peña Nieto, the Mexican president, told civilians to stay off the streets so that emergency services could access the worst hit areas.
Donald Trump, the US president, tweeted: “God bless the people of Mexico City. We are with you and will be there for you.”
Power was cut to 3.8million customers, the national electricity company, CFE, said and mobile phone signals were down across large parts of the country.
Mexico City’s international airport suspended operations and was checking facilities for any damage.
Mexican stocks and the peso currency dropped on news of the earthquake, and Mexico’s stock exchange suspended trading.
Two weeks ago, a 8.1 magnitude earthquake hit the south of the quakeprone country leaving 90 people dead.
Much of Mexico City is built on former lake bed, and the soil can amplify the effects of earthquakes centred hundreds of miles away.
There have been 19 earthquakes of magnitude 6.5 or larger within 200 miles of yesterday’s quake in the past century, said Paul Earle, a US Geological Survey seismologist.
Earlier in the day workplaces across Mexico City held earthquake readiness drills. They were being held on the anniversary of the 1985, 8.0 magnitude, earthquake, which killed thousands of people.
“I’m so worried. I can’t stop crying. It’s the same nightmare as in 1985,” said Georgina Sanchez, 52.
‘We arrived at the school and everyone was crying, everyone was frantic, and the kids were holding on to a rope’