© Alfredo Estrella/AFP/Getty Images
A car crushed by debris in Mexico City.
A car crushed by debris in Mexico City.
Comment: That is extraordinary timing. The odds are astronomical.
The extent of damage or injuries was not immediately clear, but people fled office buildings along the central Reforma Avenue.
Mexico's seismological agency estimated its preliminary magnitude at 6.8 and said its centre was east of the city in the state of Puebla.
© The Guardian
A video that appear to show the earthquake in action show lights swaying above people crowding into hallways for safety, and then those lights seeming to lose power.
Comment: RT is reporting that: This comes just 11 days after the strongest earthquake ever recorded in Mexico.
Lots of footage coming out now from Mexico City:
This is almost certainly a mass casualty event.
First death toll reports 40 people killed.
UPDATE (20 Sept.)
The death toll in yesterday's earthquake has risen to 224, Interior Minister Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong said, as cited by local media.
At least 30 people, most of them children, lost their lives after the elementary school collapsed in southern Mexico City, Mexico's Education Secretary, Aurelio Nuño told Imagen Televisión. Eleven people were rescued from under the rubble. Nuño added that rescuers aided by volunteers will continue to search for survivors.
The deadly quake occurred on the 32nd anniversary of the 1985 Mexico City earthquake which had a magnitude of 8.0 and a Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). The event caused serious damage to the Greater Mexico City area and the deaths of at least 5,000 people.
As rescue efforts continue the death toll is expected to rise. Further footage of the quake shows the devastation and panic caused.