Five Taiwanese under the rubble in Mexico City quake
Search is underway in collapsed office building in city centre. The 7.1 quake hit several states. The death toll now stands at 248, including 20 children with 30 more missing. Rescue teams and volunteers claw with their shovels and bare hands seeking survivors.
Mexico City (AsiaNews/CNA) – Five Taiwanese nationals are trapped in the rubble of a toppled office building in Mexico City after a magnitude-7.1 earthquake jolted central Mexico on Tuesday.
Taiwan's representative office in the country and a Taiwanese businessman's association have sent people to the site to help search for their compatriots.
The massive quake hit the Mexican capital at 1:14 pm (local time) as well as the neighbouring states of Guerrero, Morelos, Puebla, Oaxaca, and Tlaxcala.
The epicentre was near Atencingo in Puebla state, about 120 kilometres from Mexico City, at a depth of 51 kilometres.
Mexico’s Civil Protection Agency announced that the death toll stood at 248 deaths, including 20 children who died when their school collapsed. Another 30 are still missing.
As many as 4.6 million homes, businesses and other facilities had lost electricity.
Teams of rescuers and volunteers worked through the night clearing rubble with picks, shovels and bare hands.
Many people were caught in the earthquake just as the country’s annual readiness drill ended. The latter commemorates the 1985 quake that killed thousands.
On 7 September, an 8.1 magnitude tremor shook the south killing at least 90 people.
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