Deadly Earthquake Strikes Mexico

Kate Linthicum was in Mexico City and she's lucky she wasn't killed in the temblor.

Here she is, et al., at LAT, "At least 248 killed as powerful 7.1 earthquake strikes central Mexico":

The earthquake nearly toppled this building across from me in Mexico City. People fled screaming as buildings crumbled. Scary as hell. pic.twitter.com/PDCFm8vh0B

— Kate Linthicum (@katelinthicum) September 19, 2017

A powerful 7.1 earthquake rocked central Mexico on Tuesday, collapsing homes and bridges across hundreds of miles, killing at least 217 people and sending thousands more fleeing into the streets screaming in a country still reeling from a deadly temblor that struck less than two weeks ago.

Entire apartment blocks swayed violently in the center of Mexico City, including in the historic districts of El Centro and Roma, crumbling balconies and causing huge cracks to appear on building facades.

Panic spread through the city's core; rescue vehicles raced toward damaged buildings, and neighbors took on heroic roles as rescuers.

Firefighters and police officers scrambled to pull survivors from a collapsed elementary and secondary school where children died.

"There are 22 bodies here — two are adults — 30 children are missing and eight other adults missing. And workers are continuing rescue efforts," President Enrique Peña Nieto announced Tuesday night.

At least 86 people were reported killed and 44 buildings severely damaged in the capital alone. Twelve other people died in the surrounding state of Mexico, 71 across the state of Morelos, 43 in Puebla state, four in Guerrero state and one in Oaxaca, according to Mexican officials.

The temblor struck 32 years to the day after another powerful earthquake that killed thousands and devastated large parts of Mexico City — a tragedy that Peña Nieto had commemorated earlier Tuesday.

Around 11 a.m., Julian Dominguez heard alarms sounding in the neighborhood of Iztapalapa, part of a citywide drill to mark the anniversary of the magnitude 8.0 quake. Schools and other buildings evacuated, but he kept working at his computer.

About two hours later, Dominguez, 27, started to feel the building move, and alarms sounded again.

"It started really slowly,” he said, but within seconds it was clear that this was no drill.

Dominguez raced down a flight of stairs. Crowds of people already had gathered outside. Parents were crying, worried for their children still in school.

"It was strange that it fell on the same day … as another earthquake that caused so much damage," Dominguez said.

The federal government declared a state of disaster in Mexico City and dispatched 3,428 troops to affected areas there and in nearby states.

"We are facing a new emergency in Mexico City, in the state of Puebla and Morelos, following the 7.1 magnitude earthquake,” Peña Nieto said, adding that he had asked all hospitals to help care for the injured...

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