Mexico hit by deadly earthquake while Irma leaves trail of destruction in Caribbean
At least 32 people have died after a massive 8.2-magnitude earthquake struck off Mexico's southern coast.
The epicentre was near Oaxaca state which borders into Chiapas. A tsunami warning has been issued.
"Buildings have just crumbled and crumpled. And so the death toll is going to rise," says Mexico City-based freelance journalist James Blair.
He adds it will be hard to know for some time the extent of the devastation in remote villages.
President Enrique Peña Nieto has said this is the biggest earthquake to hit Mexico in more than a 100 years. The one in 1985, registered as an 8.2 -magnitude earthquake.
Since the earthquake hit, there have been 60 aftershocks, The most powerful was a magnitude of 5.7.
"[Nieto] said that people should be bracing themselves for the possibility of another earthquake in the next 24 hours. And when he said that, he didn't mean aftershocks. So obviously people are very nervous on tenterhooks," Blair tells The Current's host Piya Chattopadhyay.
"Lightning doesn't tend to strike twice very often but sometimes it does. And so people are very alert to this particular fact."
Hurricane Irma hits Turks and Caicos
Another force of nature, Hurricane Irma, is leaving devastation in its wake. According to the the National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Irma started "pummelling" the Turks and Caicos islands Thursday night with sustained winds of 280 km/h.
Related: How Hurricane Irma became so enormously powerful
Angela Morra, of Whitby, Ont., is vacationing at Club Med in Turks and Caicos with her son. They had hoped to leave the islands when they learned about Irma, but it was too late.
So instead they hunkered down to wait out the storm.
"It started off, you know, like a storm would just back home that we are accustomed to with some winds and some heavy rain and then it very quickly escalated and it started to get very loud," Morra tells Chattopadhyay.
They could hear things swirling around outside, things hit the window, and water was leaking in their room.
Hurricane Irma is the strongest Atlantic Ocean hurricane ever recorded
"We all sort of came together, took our box spring apart from the bed, put that up against the window, took the doors off of the closet, put that up behind the box spring, put another mattress up against the window, barricaded with some chairs and a table," she explains.
"And here we are."
Now that the worst has passed, Morra says she feels relieved.
"I imagine you're looking forward to getting home as soon as possible," remarks Chattopadhyay after hearing her ordeal.
"Yes. Like right now would be great."
Listen to the full segment near the top of this web post.
This segment was produced by The Current's Samira Mohyeddin and Julian Uzielli.