|
  |
|
 |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Deadly quake shakes Mexico
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) -- The Mexican government declared a state of emergency Wednesday for the coastal state of Colima as authorities sifted through the ruins of buildings, looking for victims of a powerful earthquake that killed at least 24 people and injured more than 160. The quake, which U.S. experts estimated to be 7.8 in magnitude, hit hardest in the agricultural state of Colima. The Mexican Red Cross said 22 people had died in the state of Colima at the epicenter of the quake and government officials said two people died in the state of Jalisco. (Map) Twenty of the those who died in Colima were killed by collapsed buildings and the other two victims died of a heart attack, Mexican Red Cross spokeswoman Gisela Casrin told CNN. According to Colima Gov. Fernando Moreno Pena, many residents live in fragile, adobe houses and authorities fear more people may be trapped inside the rubble. The Mexican government said the exact death toll won't be known until later Wednesday. Authorities were trying to fan out in small villages around Colima but have been hampered by damaged bridges. The Mexican government dispatched small aircraft to remote areas of Mexico to assess damage. President Vicente Fox visited parts of Colima Wednesday, and federal authorities announced the establishment of a $2 million reconstruction fund to help the hardest-hit areas rebuild. The U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado, put the quake's magnitude at 7.8, but the National Seismological Center in Mexico City calculated a magnitude of 7.6. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was centered near the Pacific Coast around Colima, about 30 miles east-southeast of the city of Manzanillo. It struck Tuesday at 8:06 p.m. local time (9:06 p.m. EST). It was the largest earthquake in the region since October 9, 1995, when a 8.0 force quake hit the area, the survey said. An earthquake with a magnitude of more than 7.0 is capable of widespread and heavy damage.
The quake was felt more than 300 miles away in the capital, Mexico City, where buildings swayed and residents gathered in the streets as a precaution. Landslides knocked out utilities in some areas, said Carlos Gelista, Mexico's director of emergency management for the Civil Protection Agency. Power outages were reported in Mexico City and in throughout Colima. Damage was also reported in the state of Michoacan, and the USGS warned on its Web site that the quake "may have caused substantial damage and casualties due to its location and size." A man in Comala, seven miles north of the capital, Colima, said the quake was strong but lasted less than a minute. He said the electricity was out for a couple of hours and damage in his community was minor. In Mexico City, buildings swayed and residents gathered in the streets as a precaution. There were reported power outages in the city. Police cars with lights flashing drove slowly through the streets of Mexico City, their loudspeakers asking residents if they were OK, according to The Associated Press. Some people had fled so quickly they had no shoes and had little more than blankets to protect them from the cold night air, the AP reported. "I felt it very strongly and I saw all the people leave, very scared," Victor Morales, a 46-year-old apartment building superintendent in the Condesa neighborhood, told the AP. "I stayed calm because I trust in God." Copyright 2003 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
