A powerful earthquake jolted central Mexico on Tuesday, killing more than 130 people, cracking building facades and scattering rubble on streets in the capital on the anniversary of a devastating 1985 quake. The nationwide death toll rose to 139 on Tuesday evening, according to Mexico's head of Civil Defense, and the Mexican federal government declared a state of disaster in Mexico City which helps free up emergency funds.Luis Felipe Puente said 64 people died in the state of Morelos, just south of Mexico City, though local officials reported only 54. In addition, 36 people died in Mexico City, 29 in Puebla state, nine in the State of Mexico and one in Guerrero. The count did not include one death that officials in the southern state of Oaxaca reported earlier as quake-related. Hours after the quake, rescue workers were still clawing through the wreckage of a primary school that partly collapsed in the city's south looking for any children who might be trapped.
Some relatives said they had received Whatsapp message from two girls inside, but the claim could not be confirmed. The earthquake is the deadliest in Mexico since the 1985 quake that killed thousands. It came less than two weeks after another powerful quake left 90 dead in the country's south. Scores of buildings collapsed into mounds of rubble or were severely damaged in densely populated parts of Mexico City and nearby states. Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said buildings collapsed at 44 places in the capital alone.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 7.1 and was centered near the Puebla state town of Raboso, about 76 miles southeast of Mexico City. Mancera 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. He said search efforts were slow because of the fragility of rubble.
