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Anuwat Kongko, a 28-year-old hiker from Thailand, was on top of Mount Rinjani when the earthquake hit.
"I reached the summit [Mont Rinjani] at around 6am along with some friends. Then I spent some time taking pictures with my camera with my friends until 6.47am, when the 1st earthquake occurred. It's just like the mountain was shaking. Everyone crouched on the floor and after it stopped I started to run away from there.
"After 10minutes an aftershock happened. Then, everyone was told to move out from there pretty quickly (you can see it in my video). Some of the pathway was destroyed by the earthquake."
Kongko said it took them 1 hour to get from the summit to the camping area, and 3 hours from the camping area to the village.
PHOTO:
Anuwat Kongko
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Story highlights
NEW: 22 bodies were found in the debris of a school, president says
Strong earthquake comes on anniversary of devastating 1985 quake
(CNN) —
For the second time in two weeks, a powerful earthquake struck Mexico, toppling buildings, cracking highways and killing hundreds of people.
At least 216 people died in Mexico City – the country’s capital – and in the states of Puebla, Mexico and Morelos, officials said. Previously, authorities had said that as many as 248 people had died. The death toll was later revised.
The epicenter of the 7.1-magnitude earthquake was 2.8 miles (4.5 kilometers) east-northeast of San Juan Raboso and 34.1 miles (55 km) south-southwest of the city of Puebla, in Puebla state, according to the US Geological Survey.
President Enrique Peña Nieto said 22 bodies were found in the debris of an elementary school in Mexico City that collapsed due to the earthquake. At least 30 children were still missing Tuesday night, he said.
“We are facing a new national emergency,” Peña Nieto told citizens earlier on his first address following the earthquake.
In Mexico City, thousands of soldiers, rescuers and civilians – including college students – were working side by side to dig through tall piles of rubble from dozens of crumbled buildings.
Some carried away buckets full of debris while others called out the names of those who have been rescued. At times, rescuers asked for total silence as they tried to hear voices coming from under the debris.
The quake left the busiest city in Mexico in chaos. Windows buckled and shattered, falling several stories to the ground while thousands of people streamed into the streets running away from buildings and potential gas leaks.
People struggled to get home when power poles that toppled in the quake blocked the streets and the public transportation system temporarily shut down operations. Nearly 5 million customers were still without power early Wednesday.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Relatives of missing people wait for news in front of a collapsed building in Mexico City on Friday, September 22. A magnitude 7.1 quake hit central Mexico three days earlier.
PHOTO:
YURI CORTEZ/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Rescue workers search for survivors Thursday, September 21, at a collapsed apartment building in Mexico City.
PHOTO:
Natacha Pisarenko/AP
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
A religious statue is salvaged from a former convent that was heavily damaged in Tlayacapan, Mexico. This was the second earthquake to hit Mexico in two weeks. A magnitude 8.1 quake struck off the country's southern coast on September 8.
PHOTO:
Eduardo Verdugo/AP
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
A wall is damaged at a home in Tlayacapan on Wednesday, September 20.
PHOTO:
Eduardo Verdugo/AP
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Volunteers organize donations in Mexico City on September 20.
PHOTO:
The Washington Post/Getty Images
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Rescuers in Mexico City work to save a child trapped inside the Enrique Rebsamen elementary school on September 20. Rescue workers said they believed they'd made contact with a girl trapped in the rubble at the school. But by the next afternoon, navy official Angel Enrique Sarmiento said all the school's children had been accounted for and there was no student in the rubble. He apologized for the confusion.
PHOTO:
Marco Ugarte/AP
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Men carry beams of wood to offer help in Mexico City's Roma neighborhood on September 20.
PHOTO:
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Families prepare to sleep under tarps outside their quake-damaged building in Mexico City on September 20.
PHOTO:
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Rescuers and firefighters lower a corpse from a house in Mexico City on September 20.
PHOTO:
VICTOR GALINDO/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Volunteers and rescue workers search for people trapped inside the Enrique Rebsamen school on September 20.
PHOTO:
Miguel Tovar/AP
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
A volunteer in Mexico City asks for silence as a flattened building is searched for survivors on September 20.
PHOTO:
ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Members of the Mexican Army nap September 20 after assisting in search-and-rescue missions in Mexico City.
PHOTO:
Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
People look for survivors in Mexico City on September 20.
PHOTO:
Francois Pesant/Polaris/Newscom
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
A man walks his bike past a partially collapsed building in Jojutla on September 20.
PHOTO:
Eduardo Verdugo/AP
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Volunteers arrange food and other donated supplies at a distribution point in Mexico City on September 20.
PHOTO:
RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Children's toys are seen in a damaged building in Mexico City on September 20.
PHOTO:
ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
A survivor is pulled out of rubble in Mexico City on September 20.
PHOTO:
PEDRO PARDO/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
People sleep on the street next to damaged homes in Jojutla on September 20.
PHOTO:
Eduardo Verdugo/AP
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Soldiers remove debris from a collapsed building in Mexico City on September 20.
PHOTO:
Manuel Velasquez/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
An injured person is carried away after being rescued in Mexico City on Tuesday, September 19. The earthquake happened on the anniversary of a 1985 quake that killed an estimated 9,500 people in and around Mexico City.
PHOTO:
Miguel Tovar/AP
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Rescue workers remove rubble from a Mexico City building on September 19.
PHOTO:
RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Rescue workers in Mexico City search for people trapped inside the collapsed Enrique Rebsamen school on September 19.
PHOTO:
Carlos Cisneros/AP
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
A man comforts a student outside a school in Mexico City on September 19.
PHOTO:
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
A police officer runs toward the site where a building collapsed in Mexico City on September 19.
PHOTO:
YURI CORTEZ/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Rescue workers and volunteers search a collapsed building in Mexico City on September 19.
PHOTO:
Eduardo Verdugo/AP
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
A man is rescued under rubble in Mexico City's Condesa area on September 19.
PHOTO:
Pablo Ramos/AP
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
A woman's crushed body hangs from a collapsed building in Mexico City on September 19.
PHOTO:
Marco Ugarte/AP
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Recovery efforts take place at the collapse of a residential building in Mexico City on September 19.
PHOTO:
Courtesy Lior Sperandeo/CNN Exclusive
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
The quake damaged the Jojutla Municipal Palace.
PHOTO:
Carlos Rodriguez/AP
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
A search goes on at the scene of a collapsed building in Mexico City's Del Valle neighborhood on September 19.
PHOTO:
Miguel Tovar/AP
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Emergency workers remove debris as they search for survivors in Mexico City on September 19.
PHOTO:
RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
People react in Mexico City just after the quake hit.
PHOTO:
Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
People gather on a Mexico City street after office buildings were evacuated because of the quake.
PHOTO:
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
A building is damaged in Mexico City on September 19.
PHOTO:
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
A woman in Mexico City cries as she tries to reach people on her cell phone after the quake.
PHOTO:
Marco Ugarte/AP
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Patients from a Mexico City hospital receive treatment outside after the hospital was evacuated on September 19.
PHOTO:
Jose Mendez/EPA
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
A woman in Mexico City reacts after the quake.
PHOTO:
Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
People remove debris off a building that collapsed in Mexico City.
PHOTO:
Alfredo Estrella/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
A car is crushed by debris in Mexico City on September 19.
PHOTO:
Alfredo Estrella/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
A woman receives medical assistance after she was injured in Mexico City on September 19.
PHOTO:
Omar Torres/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
People stand inside a Mexico City building that collapsed in the quake.
PHOTO:
Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images
All public and private schools in Mexico City and some of the states affected by the earthquake will remain closed until further notice, Education Minister Aurelio Nuño tweeted.
Tuesday’s earthquake took place on the anniversary of a devastating earthquake that killed thousands in Mexico City in 1985. Just hours before the quake hit, many people took part in drills and commemorative events.
“God bless the people of Mexico City. We are with you and will be there for you,” US President Donald Trump tweeted.
Photographer: Moment turns to terror
Adrian Wilson, a photographer from New York City who was visiting his fiancee, was eating in the capital when the earthquake struck.
“The floor gently rocked as if a big truck went by,” Wilson said. “It then amplified in waves and the whole room started shaking. The building is from the 1930s and just survived a big earthquake, so I knew I would be OK.”
Wilson told CNN: “The doors were flapping open, the windows, everything.”
He took a quick video to show his children, he said.
“It’s almost a roller coaster ride, where you think, wow, this is kind of cool. But then all of a sudden, you’re like this isn’t cool at all,” he said.
He looked outside and saw helicopters, and burning and collapsed buildings. “Then you realize … this is no joy ride for anybody.”
Ricardo Ramos, a TV producer from Los Angeles, was scouting a location in a Mexico City cafe when the quake hit. He ran out into the street.
“Thank you, God, for keeping us safe once again. We got to experience another terrible #earthquake, this time during a location scout,” he wrote on Instagram.
’It was nerve-wracking’
Luis Ramos, who owns an airline business management company, said he was in a meeting near Mexico’s main airport when the ground started to shake.
“We evacuated and when we got outside the roads were moving up and down and trees were falling,” he told CNN. “It was nerve-wracking. ”
Ramos said he got into a car with his driver and went to check on his 99-year-old grandfather, Pedro Cabrero, who lives in a high rise.
“On the elevated roadway, I could see smoke and hear explosions,” he said. “I saw a lot of damaged buildings where the exteriors had fallen. I saw some collapsed buildings.”
Ramos said his grandfather was safe. After the earthquake, the two drove around the capital trying to find a place to eat. “He tells me he’s ready for a tequila,” he said of his grandfather.
’Furniture fell over’
The September 19, 1985, earthquake registered at magnitude-8.0 and killed an estimated 9,500 people in and around Mexico City. That quake left a huge scar on the city, resulting in changes in building codes and greater protections against earthquakes, such as the drills that took place hours earlier.
Dorothy Munoz told CNN that she was watching a TV special on the 1985 earthquake when the earth shook for real.
“A fish tank fell to the floor,” the Mexico City resident said. “Decorations around the apartment fell and broke. Furniture fell over.”
People remove debris off a building that collapsed after an earthquake rattled Mexico City.
PHOTO:
Alfredo Estrella/AFP/Getty Images
Munoz grabbed her dogs and raced to the street, where people were told not to return to their apartments until buildings were checked for structural damage and gas leaks.
“This is one of those moments where we all need to come together,” Ramos said.
CNN’s Elwyn Lopez, Hande Atay Alam, Catherine E. Shoichet, David Williams, Larry Register, Fidel Gutierrez, Abel Alvarado, Gustavo Ramirez and Phil Gast contributed to this report.
![Anuwat Kongko, a 28-year-old hiker from Thailand, was on top of Mount Rinjani when the earthquake hit.
"I reached the summit [Mont Rinjani] at around 6am along with some friends. Then I spent some time taking pictures with my camera with my friends until 6.47am, when the 1st earthquake occurred. It](https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/180730094905-03-indonesia-earthquake-hiker-live-video.jpg)
