20 September 2017•Update: 21 September 2017
By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON
Rescuers are searching Wednesday for dozens of children who went missing when a school in Mexico City partially collapsed during a devastating earthquake.
At least 25 bodies have been pulled from the wreckage at Enrique Rebsamen school following the magnitude 7.1 quake Tuesday, NBC News reported.
The quake flattened at least 44 buildings across Mexico's largest city and capital, and at least 225 people have been reported killed. Largest swaths of the capital and surrounding areas are without power.
The powerful earthquake struck at 1.14 p.m. local time (1814GMT) 122 kilometers (76 miles) southeast of the capital at a depth of 51 km (32 miles), the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The deadly seismic jolt came on the 32nd anniversary of a 1985 earthquake that left more than 10,000 dead and destroyed a large part of the city.
The latest quake occurred hours after an annual drill for the earthquake-prone city, sending residents pouring into the streets for a second time.
Mexico is facing “another major national emergency”, President Enrique Pena Nieto said early Wednesday in a public address.
The country was hit by a magnitude 8.2 earthquake Sept. 8 that killed nearly 100 people and left around 2.5 million residents needing aid.
“The priority at this time is to continue the rescue of those still trapped and to provide medical care to the wounded,” Pena Nieto said.
