It was a double blow from nature on
Tuesday for Mexico as it did not just have a fresh earthquake to contend with,
but also the problem of the small eruption of Popocatepetl volcano.
Mexico earthquake kills over 149
people in latest figures In Atzitzihuacan on the slopes of the volcano, a
church collapsed during mass, killing 15 people, Puebla Governor Jose Antonio
Gali said.
This is in addition to the 149 people who died when a powerful
earthquake of magnitude 7.1 struck central Mexico, toppling buildings in the
heavily populated capital where rescuers scoured frantically under the rubble
of ruins for survivors. Thousands ran into the streets in panic, and millions
lost electricity when the quake struck around lunchtime. Mexico City Mayor
Miguel Angel Mancera said 44 buildings were severely damaged or destroyed.
Several major gas leaks and fires occurred. Interior Secretary Miguel Angel
Osorio Chong told local television rescue teams were working painstakingly with
picks and shovels. The United Nations expressed condolences and said it was
ready to assist.
“We have some buildings where we have reports that there could
be people inside. They are doing it with lots of caution,” the interior
secretary said, adding that more rescue personnel would be needed.
Ambulances
and fire engines confronted gridlock on Mexico City’s streets as millions of
workers tried to go home. The temblor occurred on the 32nd anniversary of a
devastating quake that killed thousands in Mexico City in 1985.
Many Mexicans had taken part in earthquake
drills on Tuesday as is customary every Sept. 19. A powerful quake in southern
Mexico on Sept. 7 killed at least 98 people. Among buildings that collapsed in
the capital on Tuesday were apartment blocks, a school, a factory and a
supermarket. The fashionable Roma district was hard hit, and a six-story
apartment building was among several collapses reported. Hundreds of volunteers
and rescue workers dug through the rubble with picks, shovels and their bare
hands. “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, choking back tears.
On Twitter, relatives posted pleas for news of family members, including
8-year-old Alexis Vargas Macias who was at Enrique Rebsamen school when the
quake hit. The school collapsed, television images showed, and according to
local media and family members on social media, several children were killed.
Earthquakes of magnitude 7 or above are regarded as major and are capable of
causing widespread heavy damage. The highest death toll was in Morelos State,
just south of Mexico City, where 64 deaths were reported, said Luis Felipe
Puente, head of the nation’s civil protection agency. In Mexico City, at least
36 people were killed, he said. In the neighboring state of Mexico, at least
nine people were killed. Twenty-nine deaths were reported in the central state
of Puebla, to the south, Puente said. The epicenter of Tuesday’s quake was in
Puebla, the U.S. Geological Survey said, and 41 deaths were reported there
earlier. There was no explanation for the disparity with the figure Puente
cited. One death was also reported in the state of Guerrero, in southwestern
Mexico, which Puente did not include in his count. ‘FEAR AND PANIC’ Power was
cut to 3.8 million customers, national electricity company CFE said. In Puebla,
university student Jevon Minto, 24, said he had just arrived at class when he
felt the shaking. “We were seated when the place started shaking real, real
hard … You can literally feel the fear and the panic in this city.” ”You can
see people … (are) scared, their eyes are red from crying.” U.S.
President
Donald Trump said on Twitter: “God bless the people of Mexico City.
We are with you and will be there
for you.” Mexico City, one of the world’s most populous cities, and the
surrounding area are home to about 20 million people. In the capital, at least
one survivor was pulled from a collapsed building in the busy Condesa
neighborhood, and another was rescued from a six-story apartment building
nearby. Banker Jesus Gonzalez Hernandez, 55, said office lamps and furniture
swayed when the tremor began. He and colleagues rushed to evacuate. ”But while
exiting down the stairs, the walls were coming apart,” said Gonzalez Hernandez,
who fractured his ankle in the melee. In Cuernavaca, a city in Morelos popular
as a destination for weekend visitors from Mexico City, there were reports on
local radio of people trapped beneath collapsed buildings.
Mexican TV and
social media showed cars crushed by debris. “We got out really fast, leaving
everything as it was and just left,” said Rosaura Suarez, as she stood with a
crowd in Mexico City. Mexican stocks and the peso currency dropped on news of
the earthquake and Mexico’s stock exchange suspended trading. NAN