Dramatic rescue work in Mexico quake aftermath

A magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit Mexico on Tuesday killing over 200 people, nearly half of them in the capital, 32 years to the day after a devastating 1985 quake. Rescuers formed human chains and dug to find dust-covered survivors and bodies in the remains of apartment buildings, schools and a factory. Residents of Mexico City, a metropolitan region of some 20 million people, slept in the streets while authorities and volunteers set up tented collection centres to distribute food and water.

Search under debris

A firefighter looks for survivors beneath a collapsed building. Rescuers are desperately working to free people trapped under debris. 

Combing through rubble

Rescue workers search for people under the rubble of a collapsed building after an earthquake hit Mexico City. Emergency personnel and equipment are being deployed across affected areas. 

Ears to the ground

Rescuers ask for silence to hear people trapped beneath the rubble and debris of a flattened building in Mexico City.

Strong emotion

A woman cries as she tries to reach people on her cellphone after the earthquake. Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto has said the priority is to "keep rescuing people who are still trapped and to give medical attention to the injured people." 

Human chain

People work together to remove debris outside a collapsed building after the earthquake in Mexico City. The quake toppled dozens of buildings, broke gas mains and sparked fires across the city and other towns in central Mexico.

Attending to the injured

An injured man is carried away by rescuers in Mexico City. People across central Mexico are rallying to help their neighbours as dozens of buildings tumbled into mounds of rubble.

Camped in the street

This family set up shelter in the middle of a street next to homes damaged by the earthquake in Jojutla, Morelos state. In Mexico City, 91 kilometres away from Jojutla, residents slept in the streets while authorities and volunteers set up tented collection centres to distribute food and water.

Outdoor nursery

Nurses moved small children in cribs to a safer location when the earthquake hit Mexico City.

Deadly school collapse

Rescue workers search for children trapped inside the collapsed Enrique Rebsamen school in Mexico City. Amid the rubble of the school, soldiers and firefighters found at least 22 dead children and two adults, while another 30 children and 12 adults were missing.