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Mexico: 61 dead, 428 homes destroyed in strongest earthquake in century

Rodrigo Soberanes, San Cristobal de las Casas resident in Chiapas, said his house 'moved like chewing gum'.

By :  dr swati srivastava
Update: 2017-09-09 12:31 GMT
The city on Sunday was littered with rubble from Thursday night's magnitude 8.1 earthquake (Photo: AP)
The Interior Department reported that 428 homes were destroyed and 1,700 were damaged in various cities and towns in Chiapas.
Part of a bridge on a highway being built to the site of Mexico City's planned new international airport collapsed due to the earthquake, local media reported.
The president said authorities were working to re-establish the supply of water and food and provide medical attention to those who need it.
President Enrique Pena Nieto said Friday evening in a televised address that 61 people were killed - 45 in Oaxaca state, 12 in Chiapas and 4 in Tabasco - and he declared three days of national mourning.
About half of Juchitan's city hall collapsed in a pile of rubble and streets were littered with the debris of ruined houses.
The worst-hit city was Juchitan, on the narrow waist of Oaxaca known as the Isthmus, where 36 quake victims died.
Families were jerked awake by the grating howl of the capital's seismic alarm. Some shouted as they dashed out of rocking apartment buildings.
The furious shaking created a second national emergency for Mexican agencies already bracing for Hurricane Katia on the other side of the country.
The quake that hit minutes before midnight Thursday was strong enough to cause buildings to sway violently in the capital city more than 650 miles (1,000 kilometers) away.
Powerful earthquake toppled hundreds of buildings and sending panicked people fleeing into the streets in the middle of the night.
Rodrigo Soberanes, San Cristobal de las Casas resident in Chiapas, said his house 'moved like chewing gum'.

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