Mexico suffers deadliest quake in decades
POLICE, FIREFIGHTERS and ordinary Mexicans were searching for survivors in the rubble of collapsed schools, homes and apartment buildings last night after Mexico’s deadliest earthquake in decades killed more than 200 people.
The magnitude-7.1 quake struck on the anniversary of a 1985 tremor that killed thousands. Hours earlier, people around Mexico held earthquake drills to mark the date.
Dozens of buildings collapsed, including several churches where worshippers were killed. Foreign leaders sent messages of support as the scale of the damage became clear.
One of the most desperate rescue efforts took place at a primary and secondary school in southern Mexico City, where a wing of the three-storey building collapsed and a number of pupils were confirmed dead.
The chief of Mexico’s national civil defence agency said yesterday that 225 people were known to be dead. Luis Felipe Puente said in a tweet that this includes 94 in Mexico City, 71 in Morelos state and 43 in Puebla.
It comes days after a magnitude 8.1 quake off Mexico’s southern coast was also felt strongly in the capital.
President Enrique Pena Nieto said: “The priority at this moment is to keep rescuing people who are still trapped and to give medical attention to the injured people.”