The 7.1 magnitude quake left a chess board of destruction across the country’s capital, where nearly a hundred deaths have been confirmed so far.
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Another official, Adm. Angel Enrique Sarmiento, deputy secretary of the Mexican navy, told reporters that “we are sure that all the children either unfortunately died or are in hospitals or safe in their homes”. Almost two dozen children have been found dead there, and several remained unaccounted for Thursday. Some 15 hours after rescuers started digging, they were still looking for the girl, Reuters reported Thursday.
Earlier yesterday the navy announced it had recovered the body of an employee at the school.
The 7.1 magnitude quake was centered about 100 miles from Mexico City, but caused about 45 buildings in the capital to collapse. At least 19 students and six adults died in the collapsed school and 11 were rescued, according to the BBC report. Dozens of children were still missing Wednesday afternoon.
People around the building held up the names of people who were found and yet to be found in the rubble. Amazingly, the quake struck on the 32nd anniversary of another powerful natural disaster in Mexico, which killed about 10,000 people.
Rescue workers move about, listening in silence in the rubble for any sounds of life.
Emergency services have been joined by Mexico’s “mole” rescue workers, who formed as a volunteer search and rescue group in the aftermath of the devastating quake that struck Mexico City in 1985.
Their help has been critical to the rescue of people trapped beneath rubble but 24 hours after the quake, the search for survivors continues.
“We are extremely thankful to Russian Federation, to President [Vladimir] Putin, for the offer of help that Russian Federation is about to send to Mexico”, Caso said.
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto said that 27 buildings have collapsed in Mexico City.
“We’ve heard so much about Hurricane Harvey and Irma and Maria, but the Mexican people also need our help very much”, said Hernandez.
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“We dug holes, then crawled in on our bellies”, Pedro Serrano, a 29-year-old doctor who volunteered to join the rescue effort, told the AP.
