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Massive quake of 7.1 magnitude claims nearly 250 lives in Mexico

Initial calculations showed that more than 30 million people would have felt moderate shaking from Tuesday's quake.

By :  dr swati srivastava
Update: 2017-09-20 07:26 GMT
A powerful earthquake shook central Mexico on Tuesday, collapsing buildings in plumes of dust.
The body of woman hangs crushed by a collapsed building in the neighborhood of Roma Norte, in Mexico City on Tuesday.
Rescuers were continuing their search and pausing to listen for voices from the rubble.
The federal Education Department reported late Tuesday night that 25 bodies had been recovered from the school's wreckage
The quake sent people throughout the city fleeing from homes and offices, and many people remained in the streets for hours, fearful of returning to the structures.
The federal interior minister, Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, said authorities had reports of people possibly still being trapped in collapsed buildings.
Pena Nieto issued a video message urging calm and saying the initial focus of authorities is on finding people trapped in fallen buildings.
Mancera, the Mexico City mayor, said 50 to 60 people were rescued alive by citizens and emergency workers in the capital. Authorities said at least 70 people in the capital had been hospitalized for injuries.
The federal government declared a state of disaster in Mexico City, freeing up emergency funds. President Enrique Pena Nieto said he had ordered all hospitals to open their doors to the injured.
Hours after the magnitude 7.1 quake, rescue workers were still clawing through the wreckage of a primary school that partly collapsed in the city's south looking for any children who might be trapped.
The quake is the deadliest in Mexico since a 1985 quake on the same date killed thousands. It came less than two weeks after another powerful quake caused 90 deaths in the country's south.
Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said buildings fell at 44 places in the capital alone as high-rises across the city swayed sickeningly.
Dozens of buildings tumbled into mounds of rubble or were severely damaged in densely populated parts of Mexico City and nearby states.
Initial calculations showed that more than 30 million people would have felt moderate shaking from Tuesday's quake.

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