KILLER QUAKE ROCKS MEXICO CITY
Kids in collapsed school among victims as huge death toll mounts
A massive and deadly earthquake rocked Mexico City on Tuesday — 32 years to the day that a quake there killed an estimated 10,000 people.
Buildings across the city had staged preparation drills earlier in the day to mark the anniversary of the 1985 quake — only to be “sicken- ingly” swaying just hours later, with some toppling over, leaving at least 149 dead, Mexican federal authorities said.
It was the country’s second lethal earthquake this month.
One scene of unspeakable tragedy unfolded at the Enrique Rebsámen elementary school, where at least 20 kids and two adults were killed when it collapsed.
Rescuers desperately picked through the rubble of what was once the school early Wednesday, looking for 30 children and eight adults who were still missing.
Harrowing video from earlier in the day showed two kids crying as they were pulled out alive.
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto visited the site late Tuesday night.
The magnitude-7.1 quake hit at 1:14 p.m. and centered about 76 miles southeast of the sprawling metropolis, according to the US Geological Survey, which said, “Significant casualty and damage are likely and the disaster is potentially widespread.”
Several buildings groaned amid the tremors, before falling in on themselves as passers-by on the streets shouted in horror.
Video from the upper floor of a building, tweeted by former Ambassador to China Jorge Guajardo, shows clouds of dust rising from rubble across the city.
Another shows people on the 38th floor of a building bracing themselves as the structure rocks back and forth and lights flicker. One person can be seen making the
sign of the cross.
The quake kindled older residents’ memories of the deadly event that shook the city and killed thousands 32 years ago to the day on Sept. 19, 1985.
“I’m so worried. I can’t stop crying. It’s the same nightmare as in 1985,” Georgina Sanchez, 52, sobbed to Agence France-Presse.
At a collapsed apartment build- ing in Mexico City’s upscale Roma district, one man choked back tears, fearing the worst.
“My wife is there. I haven’t been able to communicate with her. She is not answering, and now they are telling us we have to turn off our cellphones because there is a gas leak,” said Juan Jesus Garcia, 33.
About 3.8 million customers lost power as cellphone service was in- terrupted across the region and traffic was snarled as signal lights went dark.
Thousands of people poured into the streets to avoid collapsing buildings, and the city’s Independence Monument plaza was teeming with those who had fled.
Onlookers cheered as rescue workers hauled survivors from the wreckage, but emergency respond- ers shushed them so they would not drown out the cries of survivors who were still trapped.
Mexico City’s international airport suspended operations while officials there checked the facility for damage.
President Trump tweeted, “God bless the people of Mexico City. We are with you and will be there for you.”
The temblor came less than two weeks after an 8.2-magnitude quake wreaked havoc in southern Mexico, killing at least 90 people.
Tuesday’s quake occurred too far from the site of the Sept. 7 quake to have been an aftershock and was a distinct event, according to USGS seismologist Paul Earle.