by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Mexico City : The Mexican government approved on Thursday the release of roughly $248 million to begin the task of rebuilding after the earthquakes that left 445 people dead.
The amount of money already spent responding to the massive temblors of September 7 and September 19 and the major aftershock of September 23 is likely in the area of $110 million, Finance Secretary Jose Antonio Meade said.
President Enrique Peña Nieto said that the total bill for reconstruction in the areas of central and southern Mexico devastated by the quakes is expected to exceed $2.12 billion. Efe reported.
Officials still don’t know how much of that amount will be covered by insurance, Meade said, though adding that the government will probably have “a much clearer idea” of the situation within the next two weeks.
Housing represents the biggest challenge, Meade said a day after Development Secretary Rosario Robles put the number of Mexicans forced from their homes by the earthquakes at more than 250,000.
The government will provide a detailed blueprint enabling the public to track where and how money is spent, Meade said, adding that his department will update the information on a real-time basis.
As if to underscore Meade’s point about transparency, residents of a Mexico City housing complex damaged in the September 19 earthquake said that municipal officials are failing to keep them informed about the condition of their homes and the plans for reconstruction.
The city administration has not offered any details about Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera’s strategy, the assembly representing the 500 families living in the Multifamiliar Tlalpan complex said in a statement.
One of the complex’s 10 buildings collapsed in last week’s quake.
The Multi-familiar Tlalpan assembly requested the creation of a panel of federal and municipal officials to brief residents on the plan for reconstruction and on the support available to them in the meantime.
Also Thursday, Mexico’s head of emergency services said the confirmed death toll from the magnitude 7.1 temblor that struck the central part of the country last week had reached 343.
This capital accounts for 204 of those fatalities, followed by the states of Morelos, 74; Puebla, 45; and Mexico, 13, Luis Felipe Puente said.
Ninety-eight people perished in the southern states of Chiapas and Oaxaca as a result of the magnitude-8.2 earthquake of Sept. 7, whose epicenter was just off the Pacific coast.
The massive quake suffered by Mexico City in 1985 left at least 20,000 people dead.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Mexico City : Thousands of emergency crews and volunteers raced against time in search of survivors on Wednesday after a powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake shook Mexico, killing at least 225 people, leaving many trapped under collapsed buildings and forcing people on to the streets for a second time in two weeks.
As President Enrique Peña Nieto announced a national emergency, rescuers armed with cutting tools and sniffer dogs in Mexico City continued to scramble to reach survivors of the 2.15 p.m. Tuesday disaster pinned inside the ruins of offices, schools and apartment blocks amid plumes of dust and wailing sirens.
Local residents, police and firefighters used their hands to dig through the rubble.
“The priority now is continue rescuing those who are still trapped and provide medical attention to the injured,” said the President early Wednesday. “We are facing a new national emergency.”
Power cuts left much of the capital in darkness. Many people had spent the night outdoors, fearful of aftershocks.
Windows buckled and shattered, falling several storeys to the ground while thousands of people streamed on to the streets running away from buildings and potential gas leaks.
Mexico City, the country’s capital, was the worst hit. Also battered were the states of Puebla, Guerrero, Oaxaca and Morelos, CNN and Efe news said. The quake’s epicentre was 4.5 km east-northeast of San Juan Raboso and 55 km south-southwest of the city of Puebla.
According to the country’s civil protection agency, 94 persons died in Mexico City, 71 in Morelos state, 43 in Puebla, 12 in the State of Mexico, four in Guerrero and one in Oaxaca.
It was the second major earthquake to hit Mexico in two weeks and came on the anniversary of the 1985 quake that devastated Mexico City, killing thousands. Just hours before the latest quake, many people took part in drills and commemorative events.
As many as 37 people — 32 children and five adults — died when Enrique Rébsamen primary school collapsed in Mexico City’s southern Coapa district, local media reported.
The quake was felt far and wide. In Mexico City, there were power outages and more than 40 buildings collapsed crushing cars and trapping people inside. There was widespread panic, the media reports said.
Dozens of buildings collapsed or were severely damaged in densely populated parts of nearby states also.
The public transportation system temporarily shut down operations. Nearly five million people were without power early on Wednesday.
The President said an emergency had been declared in the affected areas and the military was being drafted in to help with the response.
All public and private schools in Mexico City and some of the states affected by the earthquake will remain closed until further notice, Education Minister Aurelio Nuño tweeted.
Foreign leaders sent messages of support to Mexico.
US President Donald Trump, who has courted controversy with his plans for a border wall with Mexico, tweeted: “God bless the people of Mexico City. We are with you and will be there for you.”
China extended deep condolences to the victims of the earthquake and expressed heartfelt sympathy to their bereaved families, the Mexican government and people in affected areas, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said.
“China believes that the Mexican people can overcome the disaster and rebuild their lives,” he said.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Mexico : Mexico was hit on Friday by a massive 8.2-magnitude earthquake, described by the President as the country’s strongest in a century, killing at least 15 people and triggering a series of tsunami waves.
The quake struck 120 km off the Pacific Coast at 12.49 a.m., southwest of Tres Picos, Mexico, which is 1,000 km southeast of Mexico City, the US Geological Survey (USGS) reported. A tsunami warning was issued for Mexico, with three-metre-high waves possible, and other nearby countries.
The epicentre of the earthquake was off the coast of Chiapas, a state in southern Mexico, but the rumblings rocked the Mexican capital more than 600 miles away, causing electricity failures, and reports of sporadic damage. Local broadcaster Televisa, citing information from southern Mexico, said up to 15 people were killed, the Washington Post reported.
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto said the quake measured 8.2 and was the strongest earthquake Mexico has experienced in 100 years whereas the US Geological Survey put the magnitude at 8.1.
About 50 million people across the country felt the earthquake. The force sent residents of the megacity fleeing into the streets at midnight, shaken by the alarms blaring over loudspeakers and a full minute of tremors.
Windows broke, walls collapsed, and the city seemed to convulse in terrifying waves. The quake even rocked the city’s landmark Angel of Independence monument. The effects in the southern states of Chiapas and Oaxaca were probably more severe.
Four people died in San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas state, including two women when their building collapsed, Governor Manuel Velasco told Milenio TV, adding that the quake also damaged hospitals and schools.
Two children died in neighbouring Tabasco state, including an infant who perished when hospital electricity failed and the ventilator went off, said Governor Arturo Nunez. Local officials in Oaxaca said residents there remain buried under the rubble of buildings. Details on damage from remote areas were not clear, raising the possibility that the death toll could rise, officials said.
The effects were also felt in Guatemala, where at least one person died and homes along the border with Mexico were levelled. Many people sustained injuries in the 7.3 quake that hit the country just hours after the one in Mexico.
Schools in at least 10 Mexican states were ordered closed on Friday as the President ordered an immediate assessment of the damage nationwide. In the hours after the quake, the National Seismological Service registered several aftershocks.
“We are assessing the damage, which will probably take hours, if not days,” said Nieto, who addressed the nation just two hours after the quake. “But the population is safe over all. There should not be a major sense of panic.”
Mexican authorities alerted the coastal states of Oaxaca and Chiapas of the possibility of destructive waves of higher than 13 feet.
The US Tsunami Warning System said hazardous tsunami waves were possible on the Pacific coasts of Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama and Honduras within three hours.
The quake comes a few days before the anniversary of the earthquake of September 19, 1985, that killed over 40,000 people in Mexico City.
At least 12 aftershocks with tremors measuring above 5.0 in magnitude and a fifth at 4.9 were recorded and some 23,000 people likely experienced the violent shaking, according to the USGS.
—IANS
