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The 7.1 magnitude earthquake left a chess board of destruction across the country’s capital, where almost a hundred deaths have been confirmed so far.
At least 44 buildings collapsed completely in Mexico City, according to official figures, with thousands more left damaged and unstable in the sprawling city, which is built on a drained lakebed.
Mexico City mayor Miguel Ángel Mancera said 52 people had been pulled alive from the rubble of collapsed buildings.
Rescuers raced against the clock to reach a girl buried under a collapsed school to the south of Mexico City, who had wriggled fingers protruding from the rubble to show she was alive.
The girl, identified only as Frida Sofia, told rescuers there were two other students nearby but she could not tell if they were alive, according to broadcaster Televisa, whose cameras and reporters had special access to the scene.
A hose was threaded through the debris to get her water as the army joined rescue efforts at the Enrique Rebsamen primary and secondary school, where one wing of the three-storey building buckled into a pile of concrete slabs. The school collapsed as teachers were trying to lead the children outside to safety.
On Tuesday, the bodies of 21 schoolchildren and four adults were discovered and hope of finding anyone else alive had diminished overnight until rescuers spotted the girl’s hand.
Outside the ruined school, anxious parents gathered and waited for news of more than 30 children who are still unaccounted for.
Outside the capital, one of the hardest hit places was Jojutla, a small town in the neighbouring state of Morelos. At least 14 people were confirmed dead, 300 homes and businesses collapsed entirely, and at least 1,500 other buildings were damaged, according to the mayor. At least 71 people were confirmed dead across the state.
Enrique Peña Nieto, the Mexican president, declared three days of national mourning in honour of the victims, and the death toll was expected to rise in coming days as rescue workers combed through tons of rubble. “Mexico shares your pain” was posted on the president’s official Twitter account as the period of mourning was announced.
Mexico is still reeling from a powerful 8.4 quake that killed almost 100 people and left thousands homeless in the south of the country less than two weeks ago. Tuesday’s 7.1 tremor struck 32 years to the day after the country’s most lethal earthquake ever left thousands dead and the capital flattened.
The quake happened hours after a scheduled drill, which may have caused confusion and deterred people from following protocol to evacuate buildings immediately, according to some reports. It was also unclear why a warning alarm sounded a fraction after buildings started shaking – it should, in theory, be triggered before.
In the capital, the leafy neighbourhoods of La Condesa and La Roma – popular with tourists and middle-class Mexicans – were also struck badly and several apartment blocks within a few blocks of each other were toppled.
Across the city, initial rescue efforts were spearheaded by neighbours, shopkeepers, and passersby until emergency services and the armed forces arrived on the scene.
Hundreds of people wearing makeshift protective clothing formed human chains to remove debris and bring essential supplies like water and medicines into the affected areas.
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