Mexico was left shattered after it was hit by a 7.1M earthquake on Tuesday, September 19, taking the lives of at least 226 people. The US Geological Survey confirmed that the tremors arose from the north-east of San Juan Raboso, the epicenter being 4.5 kilometers away from it and 55 kilometers away from Puebla.
The magnitude was massive, rambling down buildings, glass mains and setting ablaze local houses, less than two weeks after another powerful earthquake killed at least 98 people in Mexico.
People fled into the streets where they were left shocked and petrified as the streets were trembling violently. Seeking a safe refuge was secondary to them, coming out alive from the devastation became more significant.
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto confirmed late on Tuesday that more than 20 children and two adults had been found dead at a school in the neighborhood of Coapa. He further asserted that at least 30 children and 20 adults were missing. He stated the current condition as "a new national emergency".
Emergency personnel and equipments were deployed to rearrange the mess and to swiftly carry on with the rescue operations with the aid of a heat detecting equipment to rescue trapped survivors around collapsed buildings. The Mexican President further assured in a Facebook video, earlier on Tuesday stating, "throughout the night we can continue aiding the population and eventually find people beneath the rubble."
A 33 year old Juan Jesus Garcia failed to hold back his tears. "My wife is there," he said, standing outside a rattled building in Mexico City.
"I haven't been able to communicate with her. She is not answering, and now they are telling us we have to turn off our cellphones because there is a gas leak" Garcia added.
The quake killed as many as 49 people by late Tuesday, as per reports by defense chief Luis Felipe Pente. However, Morelos State saw the highest death toll, where 55 people lost their lives.
US President Donald Trump responded to the Mexico City quake. "God bless the people of Mexico City," Trump wrote in his tweet. "We are with you and will be there for you."
According to national power company Comisión Federal de Electricidad as many as 4.6 million homes, businesses and other facilities are without electricity, primarily focusing on the areas in greater Mexico City, including the states of Guerrero, Morelos, Puebla, Oaxaca, and Tlaxcala.
In this gallery, IBTimes Singapore has compiled a series of images of a devastated Mexico City after the 7.1M earthquake.
