Editorial Team
Publication Date
September 21, 2017
Mayela Sánchez, GPJ Mexico
Search and rescue groups carry a body through the rubble of a collapsed apartment building in the Hipódromo Condesa neighborhood in central Mexico City at 11 a.m. Wednesday. After more than 12 hours, the rescuers were able to carry two bodies out of the debris, and one person was found alive. The 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck the capital city Tuesday afternoon.
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO — After the 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck central Mexico on Tuesday afternoon, people in this capital city found themselves enveloped in clouds of dust, and surrounded by frightened neighbors and rubble from collapsed buildings.
Luis Felipe Puente, head of the civil defense agency, said Wednesday via Twitter that 223 people have been confirmed dead, including 93 people in Mexico City.
This is the second earthquake to hit the country in less than two weeks. An 8.2-magnitude earthquake hit the southern coast, reaching as far as Guatemala City on Sept. 7. Nearly 100 people died in Mexico as a result. That was the most powerful earthquake to strike the country in a century. Sept. 19 also marks the anniversary of the 8.1-magnitude earthquake that struck Mexico City in 1985, which resulted in the deaths of thousands.
As the violent shakes ended, concerned citizens rushed to the aid of others, sorting through debris, distributing food and water, and shouting out to let people know help was on the way. In the hours after the temblor, Mexico City continues efforts to rescue people.
Those who found themselves hurling stones and distributing water bottles, like Víctor Carrillo, 24, say their reaction to help was immediate upon seeing the destruction around them.
“Everything was spontaneous,” Carrillo says.
Mayela Sánchez, GPJ Mexico
The 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck Mexico City on Sept. 19 at 1:14 p.m. local time. Just moments after, a building where clothing was manufactured collapsed in the Obrera neighborhood in central Mexico City.
Mayela Sánchez, GPJ Mexico
In shock, people stare at a collapsed building in the Obrera neighborhood in central Mexico City. At least 30 buildings in Mexico City collapsed in the 7.1-magnitude temblor, according to a Tuesday press release from the city government.
Mayela Sánchez, GPJ Mexico
Dozens of people rushed to the site of a collapsed building in the Obrera neighborhood in central Mexico City to search for survivors. The building collapsed on top of the playground of the primary school Escuela Primaria Simon Bolívar after the 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck Tuesday afternoon.
Mayela Sánchez, GPJ Mexico
Volunteers quickly formed a line in the playground of the Escuela Primaria Simon Bolívar primary school in the Obrera neighborhood in central Mexico City after a building collapsed onto the school. They joined to clear the rubble without tools or special equipment to remove rubble after the 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck Tuesday afternoon. A school administrator confirmed to Global Press Journal that all of the school’s children had been evacuated.
Mayela Sánchez, GPJ Mexico
About 130 hospitalized patients were evacuated safely out of the Dr. Gabriel Mancera public hospital in the Narvarte neighborhood in Mexico City after the 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck Tuesday afternoon.
Mayela Sánchez, GPJ Mexico
People scan a list of names of patients who were being hospitalized in the Dr. Gabriel Mancera public hospital in the Narvarte neighborhood of Mexico City. It was posted by hospital personnel to confirm where people on the hospital grounds people had been evacuated. Only five public hospitals in Mexico City reported infrastructure damage, according to a Tweet released by the federal government on Wednesday. The Dr. Gabriel Mancera hospital is not one of these hospitals.
Mayela Sánchez, GPJ Mexico
Miguel Casillas, 22, helps direct traffic on Avenida Cuauhtémoc, a busy thoroughfare in central Mexico City. Traffic lights stopped working in many parts of the city after the powerful earthquake struck the capital on Tuesday afternoon. Much of the city was without power Tuesday night.
Mayela Sánchez, GPJ Mexico
Vehicles in a parking lot in the Roma Sur neighborhood were damaged by the collapse of a building on an adjacent street after the 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck Mexico City Tuesday.
Mayela Sánchez, GPJ Mexico
From left to right, Juan Carlos Rivera, 26, Javier Eduardo Flores, 22 and Víctor Carrillo, 24, sort through water bottles and food inside a van in central Mexico City after the 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck Mexico City Tuesday. The three joined seven others through the night in distributing aid to the sites where volunteers were searching for survivors.
Mayela Sánchez, GPJ Mexico
After a building collapsed in the Piedad Narvarte neighborhood in central Mexico City, people form a line to guard the street to allow rescuers to focus on their search for survivors.
Mayela Sánchez, GPJ Mexico
Military personnel, firefighters, paramedics and citizen-led search teams and rescue groups search for survivors after a seven-floor apartment building collapsed in the Hipódromo Condesa neighborhood in central Mexico City. Shortly before 7 a.m. Wednesday, search and rescue groups had not been able to find anyone.
Mayela Sánchez, GPJ Mexico
At a quarter to 8 a.m. Wednesday, search and rescue efforts used a crane to remove concrete structures in their search for survivors after an apartment building was toppled in the Hipódromo Condesa neighborhood in central Mexico City. The 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck the capital city Tuesday afternoon.
Natalia Aldana, GPJ, translated an interview from Spanish.
