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Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto has confirmed more than 20 children and two adults have been found dead at a primary school in Mexico city following the massive earthquake on Tuesday.
Family members have been desperately searching for any news on their missing relatives.
Jonathan Mendoza was looking for his cousin. “The only thing that authorities have said is to go to forensic centres and hospitals to check if our family is there. But my family has been there and we don’t have news.”
Many children and teachers are still thought to be trapped under the rubble.
“People have shown enormous solidarity. Volunteers are bringing water, food, clothes, and face masks – so that they can help the official authorities move all the debris and rocks because there are still people trapped under buildings,” said Save the Children Mexico’s Programmes Coordinator Hanna Monsivais.
“Every once in a while authorities ask for silence so they can hear the people who are still trapped. It’s amazing what people are doing for others – but some people are clearly still in complete shock,” she added.
Desperate night search for children in Mexico school ruins after earthquake https://t.co/1CkFjOy0p3 via
Abeadriana</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/aliregarcia">aliregarcia pic.twitter.com/N20ZBUhXgF— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) September 20, 2017
Shocking videos show buildings collapsing following the devastating earthquake in Mexico https://t.co/x9Kq1nUzkv pic.twitter.com/e1lislp0rk
— LBC (@LBC) September 20, 2017
It was lunchtime when the quake hit the school in the neighbourhood of Coapa, less than two weeks after another powerful quake that killed at least 98 people in southern Mexico.
Emergency services and Volunteers have been working through the night using picks, shovels, and even their hands to move the rubble, but hopes of finding survivors are slowly fading.