MEXICO SMASHED BY MASSIVE EARTHQUAKE
Areas around capital left in smoking ruins
The massive 7.1-magnitude earthquake that rocked central Mexico turned buildings into smoking ruins, killed more than 100 people, and left terrified throngs wandering through the rubble, afraid to go inside.
Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said yesterday buildings were destroyed in at least 44 places in the capital alone as high-rises across the city swayed sickeningly.
The quake is the deadliest in Mexico since a 1985 temblor on the same date left more than 5,000 people dead. It came less than two weeks after another powerful quake caused 90 deaths in the south.
Mexico City’s mayor said at least 30 died in the capital, and officials in Morelos state, just to the south, said 54 died there. At least 26 others perished in Puebla state, disaster prevention chief Carlos Valdes said. Gov. Alfredo del Mazo said at least nine died in the State of Mexico, which also borders the capital.
The death toll is expected to climb as rescuers begin searching through the rubble for survivors.
In Boston, anxious Mexicans called loved ones only to find phone lines down.
“We could communicate through WhatsApp,” said Julie King, owner of Villa Mexico, a restaurant on Water Street downtown. “They don’t have any electricity or phones in Mexico City.”
King said her mother and other loved ones participated in an earthquake drill just two hours before the destruction began.
“They told everyone it was a drill,” she said. “So the second time, when they heard the warning, everyone moved much slower getting out of the buildings.”
She said in the area of the city where her mother lives, many of the buildings are made from stone, and appeared to survive the quake. But the messages she received from friends and loved ones regarding other parts of the city described fires, rubble, collapsed schools and churches, and trapped children.
“Some of the people got out,” she said. “Some of the buildings collapsed with people inside. It’s very sad.”
At the Mexican Consulate in Boston, Deputy Consul General Graciela Gomez Garcia said she was also having communications problems.
“We are devoting all of our energy to helping authorities send messages through social media,” she said. “We all have friends and family there. We know that among our team, our family is OK, but that is not the case for everyone else in the city.”
Boston University said one of its study abroad students was in Puebla when the quake struck, but is fine, said school spokesman Colin Riley.
“We have confirmed that our one student there is fine,” Riley said. “We’ll continue to monitor the situation with our partners there.”
The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude 7.1 quake hit at 2:15 p.m. eastern time, and was centered near the Puebla state town of Raboso, about 76 miles southeast of Mexico City.
The new quake appeared to be unrelated to the magnitude 8.1 temblor that hit Sept. 7 off Mexico’s southern coast and also was felt strongly in the capital. U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Paul Earle noted the epicenters of the two quakes were 400 miles apart and said most aftershocks typically occur within 60 miles of each other.
There have been 19 earthquakes of magnitude 6.5 or larger within 150 miles of yesterday’s over the past century, Earle said.
He said there are 15 to 20 earthquakes this size or larger each year.