Strongest quake of the century leaves 95 dead

Ninety five people have died in Thursday’s 8.1 magnitude devastating earthquake in Mexico, and struck off the coast of Chiapas. Emergency workers are still looking for victims under the rubble. “ They pulled my father out from underneath the rubble after the house collapsed on the top of him. It was difficult to find him as it was in the middle of the night”, Maria Angela Molina, a Juchitan resident.

According to a government spokesman 71 people had been killed in the south-west state of Oaxaca alone.

Over 5, 000 homes were destroyed and several more left without running water and electricity in Juchitan.

Hundreds of families have reportedly been camping in street, to avoid dangers of aftershocks. The Mexican seismological service said 721 had been recorded since the initial tremor.

Government cargo planes delivered essential supplies as the military began distributing boxes of food.

 

The long juddering tremor was felt as far as 800km away in Mexico City and in the south Honduras. Mexico sits atop five tectonic plates make it prone to earthquakes.