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Dozens feared dead under school after Mexico quake

MEXICO CITY — Desperate rescue workers scrambled through rubble under floodlights on Wednesday (Sept 20) as they searched for dozens of children feared buried beneath a Mexico City school, one of hundreds of buildings wrecked by the country’s most lethal earthquake in a generation.

People clear rubble after an earthquake hit Mexico City, Mexico September 19, 2017. Photo: Reuters

People clear rubble after an earthquake hit Mexico City, Mexico September 19, 2017. Photo: Reuters

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MEXICO CITY — Desperate rescue workers scrambled through rubble under floodlights on Wednesday (Sept 20) as they searched for dozens of children feared buried beneath a Mexico City school, one of hundreds of buildings wrecked by the country’s most lethal earthquake in a generation.

The magnitude 7.1 quake killed at least 225 people, nearly half of them in the capital, 32 years to the day after a 1985 quake that killed at least 5,000 people.

The disaster struck as Mexico is still reeling from a powerful tremor that killed nearly 100 people in the south of the country less than two weeks ago.

Among the twisted concrete and mangled steel of the Enrique Rebsamen school, soldiers and firefighters found the bodies of 22 children and two adults. Another 30 children and 12 adults were missing, said President Enrique Pena Nieto.

He urged people to stay calm and said the authorities were trying to provide help as 40 per cent of Mexico City and 60 per cent of nearby Morelos state were without power. But, he said: “The priority at this moment is to keep rescuing people who are still trapped and to give medical attention to the injured people.”

There were chaotic scenes at the school as bulldozers moved rubble under the buzz of generators and the glare of floodlights with parents clinging to hope that their children had survived.

Workers said a teacher and two students had sent text messages from within the rubble. Parents clung to hope that their children were alive.

“They keep pulling kids out, but we know nothing of my daughter,” said 32-year-old Adriana D’Fargo, her eyes red after hours waiting for news of her seven-year-old. Three survivors were found about midnight, as volunteer rescue teams formed after the 1985 quake and known as “moles” crawled deep under the rubble.

The earthquake toppled dozens of buildings, ruptured gas mains and sparked fires across the city and other towns in central Mexico. Falling rubble and billboards crushed cars.

The quake had killed at least 94 people in the capital by early Wednesday morning (local time), according to Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera. In Morelos, 71 people were killed.

Parts of colonial-era churches crumbled in the state of Puebla, where the United States Geological Survey said the quake’s epicentre was located, some 158km south-west of the capital, and at a depth of 51km. At least 43 people died in the state.

“The armed forces and federal police will continue working non-stop until every possibility of finding more people alive is exhausted,” said Interior Minister Miguel Osorio Chong on Twitter.

US President Donald Trump tweeted: “God bless the people of Mexico City. We are with you and will be there for you.”

In a condolence letter to her Mexican counterpart, President Halimah Yacob said she was deeply saddened by the loss of lives and devastation.

“On behalf of the people of Singapore, I convey my sincere sympathies and condolences to the families of the victims. Our thoughts are with them during this difficult time,” she said.

“I am confident that the people of Mexico will respond to this calamity with strength and courage. I wish that Mexico will overcome the consequences of this tragic event in the soonest possible time.”

Residents of Mexico City, a metropolitan region of some 20 million people, slept in the streets while the authorities and volunteers set up tents to distribute food and water.

Volunteers, soldiers and firefighters formed human chains and dug with hammers and picks in an effort to locate survivors and recover bodies in the remains of apartment buildings, schools and a factory.

In Obrera, central Mexico City, people applauded when rescuers brought out four people alive, with cheers of “si se puede” — “yes we can” — piercing the air. AGENCIES

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