New quake rattles a shaken Mexico

MEXICO CITY (NEWS 1130) – Alarms sounded in Mexico City as a new quake struck, prompting people with fresh memories of this week’s devastating temblor to flee homes and hotels. It’s not immediately clear if the new quake caused damage or injury.

Alejandra Castellanos was on the second floor of a hotel in a central neighborhood and ran down the stairs and outside with her husband.

In her words, “I was frightened because I thought, not again!”

At the site of an office that collapsed Tuesday, street signs swayed and rescuers briefly evacuated from atop the pile of rubble before returning to work.

Nataniel Hernandez lives in Tonala, one of the cities hardest hit by an earlier, Sept. 7 quake, which struck off the coast of southern Mexico with a magnitude of 8.1. He said by phone that it was one of the strongest movements he has felt since then. But he adds, “Since Sept. 7 it has not stopped shaking.”

The US Geological Survey says the new earthquake to strike Mexico had a magnitude of 6.1 and was centered in the southern state of Oaxaca. It initially calculated the magnitude as 6.2. The director of Mexico’s disaster agency says it’s an aftershock of the 8.1 quake that hit on Sept. 7 off the country’s southern coast.

The new quake also swayed buildings in Mexico City, which is trying to recover from a magnitude 7.1 temblor that struck on Thursday, killing at least 305 people.

As earthquake rescue operations stretched into Day 5, Mexico City residents throughout the city held out hope that dozens still missing might be found alive. Meantime, more than half of the dead — 157 — perished in the capital, while another 73 died in the state of Morelos, 45 in Puebla, 13 in Mexico State, six in Guerrero and one in Oaxaca.

Along a 60-foot stretch of a bike lane in Mexico City’s downtown, families huddled under tarps and donated blankets Friday, awaiting word of loved ones trapped in the four-story-high pile of rubble behind them.

“There are moments when you feel like you’re breaking down,” said Patricia Fernandez Romero, who was waiting for word on the fate of her 27-year-old son. “And there are moments when you’re a little calmer. …They are all moments that you wouldn’t wish on anyone.”

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