Mexico City earthquake: More than 200 dead, including 22 primary school children

Mexico was struck by a powerful earthquake on Tuesday that killed at least 217 people and toppled several buildings in the capital.

The death toll was slightly reduced, after it climbed throughout the night as rescue workers continued digging through rubble, with 22 children at a collapsed primary school among those killed.  Thirty more are missing.

The 7.1 magnitude earthquake came on the anniversary of a devastating 1985 temblor that caused major damage to Mexico City, and struck as many people took part in an earthquake drill.

It also came less than two weeks after another major quake killed 90 people in the country's south.

Thousands fled into the streets in panic as the powerful quake rocked several states in the centre of the country.

The epicentre was Atencingo in Puebla state, around 75 miles south-east of Mexico City, and struck at a depth of 32 miles, according to the US Geological Survey, at 1.14pm local time.

Mexico City faces bulk of the destruction

Forty three of the deaths were in the state of Puebla, some 75 miles east of Mexico City, where the earthquake struck, while 71 people were killed in Morelos, to the south of the capital. 

But it was Mexico City itself that was hardest hit, with 86 confirmed dead, according to Luis Felipe Puente, national coordinator of the Civil Protection service. 

Much of the region was plunged into darkness, with 40 per cent of Mexico City and 60 per cent of the state of Morelos still without electricity early on Wednesday.

President Enrique Pena Nieto urged people to stay in their homes if it was safe to do so and keep the streets free of congestion to allow emergency vehicles to pass.

"This earthquake is a hard and very painful test for our country," he said in a message to the nation. "Us Mexicans have had difficult experiences as a consequence of earthquakes in the past. And we have learned to respond to these episodes with commitment and the spirit of solidarity."

He added: "We will stay united, confronting this new challenge together."

People trapped in rubble

Tony Gali, the governor of Puebla, said that church steeples had been toppled in the city of Cholula.

Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said buildings fell at 44 places in Mexico City, where more than 50 people died, and fires broke out in several of them. 

Interior Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said rescue teams were working painstakingly with picks and shovels to free people who had been trapped

"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.

At one site, reporters saw onlookers cheer as a woman was pulled from the rubble. Rescuers immediately called for silence so they could listen for others who might be trapped.

One video posted on social media showed a large industrial building swaying and then crumbling in a huge cloud of dust and rubble. Mexican TV showed cars crushed by debris.

There was chaos in Mexico City, with traffic jammed to a standstill and ambulances trying to reach those injured.

Hundreds of civilians rushed to help search for people who may have been trapped.

'There was thunder...then dust'

Carlos Mendoza, 30, said that he and other volunteers in Mexico City had been able to pull two people alive from the ruins of a collapsed apartment building after three hours of effort.

"We saw this and came to help," he said. "It's ugly, very ugly."

Another volunteer rescue worker, Mariana Morales, said she saw a building collapsing in a cloud of dust before her eyes as she travelled in a taxi.

"There was the sound of thunder ... then dust and all this," she said. "The people are organising quickly."

Gala Dluzhynska was taking a class with 11 other women on the second floor of a building on trendy Alvaro Obregon street when the quake struck and window and ceiling panels fell as the building began to tear apart.

She said she fell in the stairs and people began to walk over her, before someone finally pulled her up.

"There were no stairs anymore. There were rocks," she said.

They reached the bottom only to find it barred. A security guard finally came and unlocked it.

'Children killed at school'

Jorge Lopez, a 49-year-old Spaniard living in Mexico City, told the AFP news agency that when the earthquake struck, he raced to the school in the central Roma district where his children aged six and three were, to find it collapsed but his offspring safe if terrified.

"We arrived at the school and everyone was crying, everyone was frantic, and the kids were holding on to a rope," he said.

"It's uncontrollable. You can't do anything against nature."

Lazaro Frutis, a 45-year-old who escaped an office building before it crumpled to the ground, said: "We ran outside thinking all was going to collapse around us. 

"The worst thing is, we don't know about our families or anything."

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.

Hours after the quake, rescue workers were still clawing through the wreckage of the primary school looking for any children who might be trapped. Some relatives said they had received Whatsapp message from two girls inside.

President Enrique Pena Nieto visited the school late on Tuesday and said 22 bodies had been recovered there, two of them adults.

He added in comments broadcast online by Financiero TV that 30 children and eight adults were still reported missing. Rescuers were continuing their search and pausing to listen for voices from the rubble.

City joins together in rescue efforts

Hours after a school collapsed, killing at least 20 children, people were still searching through the rubble.

Emergency services and civilians have clubbed together to rescue people and animals trapped after the quake.

A sea of people are seen removing rubble from a toppled building

A dog was saved, to the joy of onlookers

Locals were seen wearing masks as they helped to remove rubble

Hundreds of university students gathered to join the rescue efforts

Crowd cheers as child is saved

Soldiers were deployed to assist with rescues

Man pulled from rubble shouts 'there are more people in there!'

Scouts help with rescue efforts

Formula One driver Sergio Perez has donated £125,000 to the victims of the earthquake. He is currently the only Mexican Formula One driver.

Nieto: Focus is on rescuing people

In video message later, Mr Nieto appealed for calm. 

"The priority at this moment is to keep rescuing people who are still trapped and to give medical attention to the injured people," he said.

Pena Nieto said that as of late Tuesday 40 percent of Mexico City and 60 percent of Morelos state have no electricity.

Police called for calm and cordoned off streets with grotesquely twisted buildings, their reinforcing steel poking out from concrete.

People hugged and comforted each other amid anxiety about loved ones. Many stood around in a daze, not sure where to go or what to do.

Enrique Peña Nieto, the Mexican president, told civilians to stay off the streets so that emergency services could access the worst hit areas.

Donald Trump, the US president, tweeted: "God bless the people of Mexico City. We are with you and will be there for you."

Power was cut to 3.8 million customers, the national electricity company, CFE, said and mobile phone signals were down across large parts of the country.

Mexico City's international airport suspended operations and was checking facilities for any damage.

Mexican stocks and the peso currency dropped on news of the earthquake, and Mexico's stock exchange suspended trading.

Two weeks ago, a 8.1 magnitude earthquake hit the south of the quake-prone country leaving 90 people dead.

Much of Mexico City is built on former lake bed, and the soil can amplify the effects of earthquakes centred hundreds of miles away.

There have been 19 earthquakes of magnitude 6.5 or larger within 200 miles of yesterday's quake in the past century, said Paul Earle, a US Geological Survey seismologist.

Earlier in the day workplaces across Mexico City held readiness drills on the anniversary of the 1985, 8.0 magnitude, earthquake, which killed thousands of people.

"I'm so worried. I can't stop crying. It's the same nightmare as in 1985," said Georgina Sanchez, 52.

FCO advice for British travelers 

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has released this statement: "On Tuesday 19 September 2017 there was an earthquake of magnitude 7.1 near Puebla, Mexico – approximately 140km south-east of Mexico City. Damage has been severe.

"Mexico City airport was closed temporarily, but has now reopened. Please contact your airline in the first instance if you are due to fly out on 19 or 20 September. Local authorities are opening up shelters for those most badly affected, details will be released by Proteccion Civil.

"If you are in the area, you should follow the advice of the local authorities. The British embassy in Mexico City remains closed and phone lines are intermittent due to structural damage. If you require emergency assistance, please call +44 (0)20 7008 1500."

Additional reporting by agencies.