Sunday 10 September 2017

MEXICO: Magnitude 8.2 Quake Strikes Mexico

Mourners have lined the streets in the Mexican city of Juchitan to pay their respects to those killed in an 8.1 magnitude quake. Over half of the quake's victims were killed in the city, while 5,000 homes were destroyed.

Multiple funeral processions converged on cemeteries in the southern Mexican city of Juchitan on Saturday as residents buried family and friends who died in the worst earthquake to strike Mexico in 85 years.

Out of the 65 known victims of Thursday night's 8.1 magnitude quake, 37 of them were killed as buildings collapsed in Juchitan.

The picturesque city was the hardest-hit in the nation, with 5,000 homes destroyed and many more left without running water or electricity.

Accompanied by the sound of snare drums, horns and saxophones playing serenades for the dead, pallbearers carefully maneuvered caskets around the rubble in Juchitan's graveyard.

A toddler was asleep when the quake's tremors brought down his bedroom walls on top of him, his mother and older brother. Maximo died shortly after he was pulled out of the rubble.

A woman was displeased at Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto's response to the disaster. The president made a brief appearance in the city on Friday, declaring three days of national mourning and pledging to rebuild.

Pena Nieto was able to make it here in his helicopter super fast. That's how help should be arriving, right? Exactly how he got here. But it hasn't, Alvarez said, reflecting a belief that southern Mexico has been neglected by the richer north.

Rescuers continued to comb through the rubble with sniffer dogs and heavy machinery to search for survivors.

Several residents dragged mattresses onto sidewalks to sleep outdoors, with some concerned that their badly damaged homes could collapse at any moment.

Mexico's Interior Department reported that 428 homes were destroyed and 1,700 were damaged in the state of Chiapas alone, which was closest to the epicenter.

The earthquake was felt around 800 kilometers (500 miles) away in Mexico City and as far south as Honduras.

Just one day after the quake struck, Hurricane Katia made landfall north of Tecoluta in Veracruz state as a Category One storm.

Meteorologists cautioned that Katia could still bring 3 to 6 inches (7.5 to 15 centimeters) of additional rain to the region, which has a history of deadly mudslides and flooding.

The most powerful earthquakes to hit Mexico was followed by Hurricane Katia, which roared onshore in the Gulf. The president has declared three days of national mourning.

Rescue workers were struggling to cope with two natural disasters after the earthquake off the southern coast was followed by Hurricane Katia hitting the coast north of Tecolutla in Veracruz state overnight into Saturday.

The US National Hurricane Center reported Katia's maximum sustained winds had dropped to 75 mph (120 kph) when it made landfall and then weakened as it moved over land, becoming a tropical depression before dawn.

The center said that Katia was stalling over Mexico's Sierra Madre mountains, where it could bring 10 to 15 inches (25 to 37 centimeters) of rain to a region with a history of deadly mudslides and flooding.

After the earthquake on the other coastline, Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto said 45 people were killed in Oaxaca, 12 in Chiapas and four in Tabasco. The death toll is likely to rise from the 8.2 magnitude earthquake, which struck off Mexico's southern Pacific coast late on Thursday, officials said.

Pena Nieto on Friday visited Juchitan in Oaxaca, one of the worst hit cities, where at least 36 people were killed.

The priority in Juchitan is to restore water and food supplies and provide medical attention to those affected, Pena Nieto tweeted after visiting the devastated town. Authorities have handed out ration packs, blankets and other supplies to people left homeless in the town of 100,000 people.

The quake's epicenter was about 123 km (76 miles) south of the town of Pijijiapan in Chiapas, but the shock was felt over 900 kilometers north of the epicenter, in the capital, Mexico City, knocking out electricity and sending residents fleeing swaying buildings.

The Interior Department reported that 428 homes had been completely destroyed and a further 1,700 homes were damaged in Chiapas alone.

The quake was also felt in much of Guatemala, which borders Chiapas, Mexico's southernmost state.

The temblor occurred in a very seismically active region near the point of collision between three tectonic plates: the Cocos, the Caribbean and the North American.

At least six other magnitude 7.0 or greater earthquakes have hit the area since 1900 - three of them within a nine-month period from 1902-1903.

Civil Defense officials wrote on Twitter that their personnel were patrolling the streets in Chiapas, aiding residents and looking for damage.
Chiapas Governor Manuel Velasco told broadcaster Televisa some homes had been damaged and a shopping center had collapsed in the town of San Cristobal.

"Homes, schools and hospitals have been affected," Velasco said.

In Tabasco state, next to Chiapas, Governor Arturo Nunez said two of the dead were small children who were residents of his state. One child was crushed by a falling wall while the other was an infant who perished when his ventilator stopped functioning after a power outage in a hospital.



Tourism Observer

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