Rescuers swarmed over rubble with shovels and picks on Thursday in a frantic search for survivors two days after Mexico's deadliest earthquake in a generation, focussing on 10 collapsed buildings where people may still be alive.
Those trapped included five Taiwanese workers in a textile factory in downtown Mexico City. But the Navy said a missing schoolgirl whose fate captured the nation "did not exist," leading to an outpouring of anger over the mix-up.
The death toll was at least 273, officials said. Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said 50 people were not accounted for.
Working without pause since Tuesday afternoon's 7.1-magnitude quake, first responders and volunteers have saved 60 survivors from central Mexico City to poor neighbourhoods far to the south.
Late on Wednesday night, an eight-year-old girl was rescued from a collapsed building in the Tlalpan neighbourhood, nearly 36 hours after the quake, local officials said.
Luis Manuel Carrillo Nunez, 14, said he was in a yoga class at the Enrique Rebsamen private school on Tuesday when he heard people yell, "It’s shaking!"
He ran to escape the building as it began collapsing. But some classmates never made it out.
"It's hard to know that you're not going to see again the friends that you loved. I'm really traumatized," he said.
The full scale of damage has not been calculated, with buildings across the city of 20 million people badly cracked. Citigroup's Mexican unit Citibanamex told clients it was lowering its 2017 growth forecast to 1.9 percent from 2.0 percent due to the earthquake.
Some families made dangerous trips back into damaged structures to pull out possessions, and trucks with mattresses, furniture and televisions rumbled through the streets.
Despite a massive effort by volunteers and the armed forces to gather and distribute food and basic medicines, help has not reached everybody.
Thousands of people were sleeping in their cars, rather than going to shelters or damaged homes, and in the badly damaged streets in the south of the city some people held up signs begging for food.
While food, water, medicine, blankets and other basic items have been donated, some residents complained that emergency services were slow to arrive to poorer southern neighbourhoods of the city, and that wealthier districts appeared prioritised.
Disaster relief is sensitive for politicians in Mexico after the government’s widely panned response to the 1985 quake caused upheaval, which some credited with weakening the one-party rule of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
ANGER AT NAVY AND MEDIA
After more than a day of wall-to-wall television coverage of the search for a girl in the rubble of the Enrique Rebsamen school, the Navy changed its version of events and said all pupils were now accounted for.
Since Wednesday, rescue workers told leading broadcaster Televisa that a schoolgirl was trapped in the rubble, a version confirmed by the admiral in charge of the rescue effort at the school, who on Thursday said the information came from the International Red Cross.
Senior Navy official Angel Enrique Sarmiento said he believed one adult was still alive under the rubble. Rescue work continued at the school.
The search for the girl, whom some local media outlets named "Frida Sofia," captured hearts in a nation desperate for good news. As it became clear that the trapped person was not a child, there was an outpouring of anger on social media directed at broadcaster Televisa and the Navy for raising hopes.
Eleven other children were rescued from the same school, where students are aged roughly 6 to 15, the Navy said, adding that 19 children and six adults there were killed.
The body of a woman was pulled out on Thursday morning.
The Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed five nationals were trapped in a collapsed clothing factory in the Obrera neighbourhood. Volunteers cutting through debris at the factory, which had been combed by rescue dogs, heard signs of life from a car.
Rescue worker Amaury Perez said, "We shouted, 'If you are inside the vehicle, please knock three times.' He knocked three times."
Crews from Panama, El Salvador, the United States and Israel joined the search, using dogs, cameras, motion detectors and heat-seeking equipment to detect victims who may still be alive.
SOLDIERS GUARD BUILDINGS
Armed soldiers guarded abandoned buildings at risk of collapse. Some 52 buildings collapsed in Mexico City alone and more in the surrounding states.
The extensive damage to many buildings, some of them relatively new, raised questions over construction standards which were supposed to have improved after a 1985 quake.
The quake came on the anniversary of the 1985 earthquake that killed thousands and still resonates in Mexico. Annual Sept. 19 earthquake drills were being held a few hours before the nation got rocked once again.
Mexico was also recovering from another powerful quake less than two weeks ago that killed nearly 100 people in the south of the country.
Reuters
Fri Sep 22 2017
The death toll was at least 273, officials said, and Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said 50 people were not accounted for.
Michelle Yeoh terima penghormatan tertinggi Amerika
Michelle Yeoh akan dianugerahkan Pingat Kebebasan Presiden oleh Presiden Joe Biden pada majlis rasmi di White House pada 3 Mei depan.
PM Lee akan hadir Pemukiman Pemimpin Singapura-Indonesia di Bogor
Ini merupakan permukiman ketujuh dihadiri Lee dan Pemukiman Pemimpin terakhir dengan Joko Widodo yang lebih dikenali sebagai Jokowi.
Strok haba: Kerajaan Thailand nasihatkan kumpulan berisiko tinggi supaya tidak keluar rumah
Kanak-kanak, pesakit dan golongan tua diingatkan mengelak daripada terlibat dalam aktiviti di luar bangunan selepas strok haba meragut sekurang-kurangnya 30 nyawa di Thailand.
KKM kekal keputusan pinda Akta Perubatan 1971
KKM kekal dengan keputusan untuk meminda Akta 50 bagi menangani jurang antara PPP dan Program Sarjana Perubatan tempatan biarpun mendapat bantahan sesetengah pihak.
Malaysia-China bincang perkukuh kerjasama sektor pendidikan tinggi
Sempena sambutan Ulang Tahun ke-50 Hubungan Diplomatik, Malaysia dan China bincang inisiatif strategik perluas dan perkukuh jalinan kerjasama sektor pendidikan tinggi.
Freedom Flotilla to Gaza: Semua delegasi diminta pulang, FFC akan maklumkan tarikh baharu misi
Freedom Flotilla Coalition tidak dapat meneruskan misi penghantaran bantuan ke Gaza untuk kali ini.
Biden rancang untuk berdebat dengan Trump
Sebelum ini, Biden tidak komited untuk berdebat dengan lawannya, Trump.
Pesta Kaamatan 2024 dilancar pada 1 Mei di Ranau, Sabah
Sambutan perayaan Pesta Kaamatan 2024 akan dilancarkan pada 1 Mei di Ranau dan diadakan sambutan di peringkat daerah, di Sarawak dan Semenanjung.
Khairulnizam layak ke Sukan Olimpik Paris 2024
Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy sah akan mengiringi Nur Shazrin Mohd Latif ke Sukan Olimpik Paris 2024, juga merupakan penampilan keempat berturut-turut di temasya berprestij itu.
Musibah banjir buka peluang 'rezeki lebih' usahawan F&B melalui IPR
Musibah banjir yang melanda Johor tahun lepas membuka peluang rezeki baharu kepada usahawan makanan dan minuman, Haida Abdul Rahman.
Indonesia rattled by 7.6 magnitude quake, tsunami warning lifted
Indonesia was struck by a 7.6 magnitude earthquake on Tuesday off the Tanimbar islands, prompting panicked residents to flee their homes, although a tsunami warning was lifted after three hours.
Gempa Sulawesi: 45 maut, ratusan lagi cedera
Pasukan penyelamat hari ini mencari dan menyelamat mangsa-mangsa yang dikhuatiri tertimbus.
Gempa bumi 5.8 magnitud gegar Filipina, 51 cedera
Sekurangnya 51 orang cedera manakala beberapa rumah, gereja dan bangunan musnah dalam gempa bumi berukuran magnitud 5.8 yang menggegarkan selatan Filipina pagi Sabtu.
Mangsa gempa warga Malaysia di Taiwan meninggal dunia
Choo Yip Chean meninggal dunia berpunca daripada kecederaan akibat gempa bumi di Taroko Gorge National Park pada 18 April lalu.
Gempa Osaka: Tiga maut termasuk kanak-kanak
Mereka yang maut adalah seorang kanak-kanak perempuan 9 tahun dan dua lelaki warga emas.
Osaka earthquake: Three dead, more than 10 injured
An elderly man and a young girl were killed, with several others in "cardiopulmonary arrest", after walls collapsed in a magnitude-6.1 earthquake in Osaka.
Major quake cuts communications, halts oil and gas operations in Papua New Guinea
At least one company began evacuating non-essential personnel after a powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake hit Papua New Guinea's energy-rich interior on Monday.
MOSTI bangunkan standard reka bentuk bangunan tahan gempa
Standard yang dibangunkan ini akan menyediakan garis panduan kepada pihak berkuasa tempatan berkenaan reka bentuk struktur bangunan yang tahan kepada gempa bumi,- jelas kenyataan itu.
No Malaysians affected in Iran's quake
The Embassy of Malaysia in Tehran informed that no Malaysian were reported to be present at the earthquake hit area.
Selebriti dunia lahir rasa simpati terhadap mangsa gempa Nepal
Laman sosial menjadi medan reaksi para selebriti mengenai bencana gempa bumi yang melanda Nepal