MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A magnitude 6.2 earthquake that shook Mexico on
Saturday was blamed for five deaths, spreading fear among a population reeling
from multiple natural disasters and interrupting the search for survivors from
a bigger tremor earlier this week.
South of Mexico City, the Popocatepetl volcano sent a column of ash
into the sky, capping a period of seismic activity including two powerful
tremors this month that have killed more than 400 people and caused damages of
up to $8 billion (£5.9 billion).
Mexico's capital was shattered by Tuesday's magnitude 7.1 quake that
flattened dozens of buildings and killed at least 307 people. The government's
response to the disaster is under close scrutiny ahead of a presidential
election next year.
Although the latest quake was not as destructive, fear is running high
among the population. Terrified residents crouched and prayed when the alarms
went off and two women died of heart attacks as the ground shook, the city
government said.
Concern that the quake could cause further collapses paralysed rescue
efforts at a housing complex in the Tlalpan neighbourhood of Mexico City,
frustrating first responders who earlier believed people were alive under the
rubble.
By the evening, hard-hatted first responders were again digging for
bodies or survivors. Elsewhere, the work barely skipped a beat when earthquake
alarms twice rang out across the streets of the city.
The United States Geological Survey said the latest quake was
relatively shallow with an epicentre near Juchitan, a tropical region of Oaxaca
state hard hit by a massive 8.1 magnitude tremor that struck on Sept. 7.
Three people died during Saturday's tremor in Oaxaca, including a man
who was attacked by a swarm of wild bees, authorities said.
Mexico's seismological authorities said Saturday's quake was an
aftershock of that tremor, which was the strongest to hit the country in 85
years and killed at least 98 people.
The Popocatepetl volcano, which is visible on a clear day to the
approximately 20 million people that live in the Mexico City metropolitan
region, spewed vapour and ash-filled gas after two small eruptions on Saturday.
MASSIVE OPERATION
Dozens of buildings were brought to the ground by Tuesday's earthquake
and an army of trained rescuers and scores of volunteers have been frantically
removing rubble in a day-and-night search for survivors.
Apartment buildings, offices, a school and a textile factory were among
the structures flattened, leaving thousands homeless. The search had wound up
at many sites by Saturday.
Officials said there could be some 30,000 badly damaged homes in the
adjacent states of Morelos and Puebla. RMS, a risk modelling company, estimated
economic losses of $4 billion to $8 billion.
After several days of searching, Mexican volunteers, professionals and
soldiers backed by teams from countries as far away as Japan have saved 60
people from the rubble. But in the past 48 hours rescuers have found more
corpses than survivors, and frustration was mounting.
The government has run a massive search and rescue operation involving
thousands of soldiers and police, but in outlying areas of the city and
surrounding villages, victims complained that help has been slow to arrive.
"Here we have no help, everything is the centre (of the
city)," said Justina Gonzalez, 55, a shopkeeper in the Xochimilco district
in the far south of the city whose two-bedroom house fell down on Tuesday. She
now lives in a tent.
"We lost everything, we don't even have a way to cook,"
Gonzalez said, adding that neighbours were bringing her family food.
Caravans of volunteers were shuttling aid to isolated communities, with
many from brigades organised at Mexico City universities. Others came from
other parts of Mexico to help with the efforts.
Eleazar Hernandez, 42, who sells candy in the rural state of Michoacan,
said he helped clear rubble and then staffed a makeshift kitchen to feed people
who lost their homes.
"It's the people, not the government, that are donating
things," Hernandez said.
Tuesday's quake hit on the anniversary of the deadly 1985 tremor that
by some estimates killed 10,000 people. A government response panned as lacking
at the time severely damaged the credibility of the ruling Institutional
Revolutionary Party.
Mexico is now better prepared to deal with the aftermath of
earthquakes, helped by disaster planning, civic groups, a stringent building
code and communication technology.
(Additional reporting by Michael O'Boyle; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel
and Anthony Esposito; Editing by Franklin Paul and Paul Simao)
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