More than 140 dead as 7.1 magnitude earthquake hits Mexico
A powerful earthquake shook the central Mexico with killing atleast 149 people and dozens of buildings tumbled into mounds of rubble in densely populated parts of Mexico City and nearby states. Out of 149 people, 21 were children.
“We have a report of 25 dead, among them 21 children and four adults” at the Enrique Rebsamen elementary school, Mexican Undersecretary of Education Javier Trevino said.
The earthquake was reported of the 7.1 magnitude, becoming the deadliest in Mexico since 1985.
Luis Felipe Puente, head of the national Civil Defense agency, reported last night that the confirmed death toll had been raised to 149.
Buildings fell at 44 places in the capital alone, said Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera.
The federal government declared a state of disaster in Mexico City, freeing up emergency funds. President Enrique Pena Nieto said he had ordered all hospitals to open their doors to the injured.
Mariana Morales, a 26-year-old nutritionist, was one of many who spontaneously participated in rescue efforts. She wore a paper face mask and her hands were still dusty from having joined a rescue brigade to clear rubble from a building that fell in a cloud of dust before her eyes, about 15 minutes after the quake.
Hours after the magnitude 7.1 quake, rescue workers were still clawing through the wreckage of a primary school that partly collapsed in the city’s south, killing 25 people, including 21 children.
Mancera, the Mexico City mayor, said 50 to 60 people were rescued alive by citizens and emergency workers in the capital. Authorities said at least 70 people in the capital had been hospitalized for injuries.
The federal interior minister, Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, said authorities had reports of people possibly still being trapped in collapsed buildings.
Electricity and cellphone service was interrupted in many areas and traffic was snarled as signal lights went dark. Airport services have also been suspended.
The US Geological Survey said the magnitude 7.1 quake hit at 1:14 PM and was centered near the Puebla state town of Raboso, about 123 kilometers southeast of Mexico City.
As per reports, more than 30 million people would have felt shaking from yesterday’s quake.
The Instituto Morelos secondary school partly collapsed in Jojutla, but school director Adelina Anzures said the earthquake drill that the school held in the morning was a boon when the real thing hit just two hours later.
“I told them that it was not a game, that we should be prepared,” Anzures said of the drill.
Mexico City’s international airport suspended operations and was checking facilities for damage.
US Geological Survey seismologist Paul Earle noted the epicenters of the two quakes were 650 kilometers apart and said most aftershocks are within 100 kilometers.
-PTC News
