PEDRO PARDO/AFP/Getty Images(MEXICO CITY) — At least 62 people are dead after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake rocked central Mexico Tuesday afternoon, hitting on the 32nd anniversary of the biggest earthquake to ever strike the country’s capital.
The earthquake caused extensive damage to Mexico City, leveling at least 27 buildings, including homes, schools and office buildings, according to President Enrique Pena Nieto, who did a flyover of the city this afternoon. At least two children were trapped under rubble at the entrance of a school in Mexico City, according to local reports. Neighbors and volunteers were working to free them.
Mexico City International Airport was damaged in the quake, according to reports on Twitter. Video posted on social media showed a giant crack blocking its entrance.
Photos and video posted to social media depicted the damage in Mexico City, which included collapsed structures and cracks in the streets.
mexico city today pic.twitter.com/0359hgxG67
— Andrea Michelle (@michglez) September 19, 2017
Earlier in the day, earthquake drills were held in Mexico City to mark the anniversary of the Michoacán earthquake of 1985, which caused widespread death and injuries as well as catastrophic damage in Mexico City.
While some accounts place the epicenter of the 1985 earthquake in the state of Michoacán, about 200 miles west of Mexico City and a region of tectonic tension between the North American Plate and the Cocos Plate, other place the epicenter off the coast in the Pacific Ocean.
Mexico City — built on a former lake bed — is one of the worst possible places for a earthquake to strike due to its soil, which can amplify shaking by factors of 100 or more, California-based seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones told ABC Los Angeles station KABC. By comparison, the worst conditions seen in Los Angeles during an earthquake is shaking amplified by a factor of five, Jones said.
Today’s earthquake comes 11 days after an 8.1 magnitude quake struck off Mexico’s southern Pacific coast, killing dozens of people.
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