dumping it into dump trucks here. but every minute that goes by is critical and they clearly think that they have that they are on to something there because every few minutes, they ask for silence and then they begin digging again. then it s silence and digging again. hope is silence in mexico today. wolf? dozens of buildings in central mexico collapsed. at least 225 people have been killed in the 7.1 magnitude earthquake. where you are, 21 elementary school students found in the rubble of a collapsed building, but as an you ve been pointing out, there s hope maybe one young little girl is still alive. that s what they re searching for so desperately. we ll get back to you and update us hopefully with some good news, miguel marquez is on the scene for news mexico city. i want to bring in chad meyers, our meteorologist. chad, it s pretty extraordinary. two earthquakes, an 8.0
a 6.8 but the united states says it was a 7.1. trace gallagher is bringing new information from los angeles. trace? it s important to note that at the time of this earthquake, there were many people involved in earthquake drills. today, as you referenced, is the 32nd anniversary of one of the worst earthquakes to hit mexico. it was in mexico city. that earthquake was 8.0 on the richter scale. it killed upwards of 5,000. some estimates say as many as 20,000 people. this one 73 miles south of mexico city proper. it was 34 miles deep. a very deep earthquake. meaning the effects are felt further away. deep earthquakes, the destruction is sprayed out because the waves reverberate. it should be noted that mexico city has 20 approximately people
earthquake destruction, i want to give you an idea of the area. the quake hit 70 miles south of mexico city in the state of puebla. we have not gotten a death toll but in the next-door state, the governor says the death toll is at 42. in mexico city, the district of mexico, two people have died but if you look at these pictures of collapsed buildings and buckled bridges, the death toll will most certainly rise. there are numerous people trapped inside buildings but it s unclear if the authorities are in contact with these people. we are also getti word that dozens if not hundreds of roads in and out of mexico city are fractured and impossible which means the recovery effort will be that much slower, especially in the vulnerable areas outside mexico city where millions of poor people live. 32 years ago today, and 8.0 quake in mexico city claimed at least 5,000 lives and thousands
when it comes to shaking, 21.5 million people. 15 million, and then 1.6 million felt very strong. we could even get in closer and give you an idea of the shake. first, what you re noticing here, these yellow dots are after shocks from the 8.0 we had just 11 days ago. we ll start to see more of that activity in the hours and days ahead. so everything yellow is more than a week old. so they have been getting some after shocks. important to note the death toll has risen with this. an extreme periphery of this mexico city. but even that said even with that shaking far away you can understand why a lot of the structures collapsed and even had facade issues.
buildings collapsing, huge plumes of dust and smoke rising over the city. you are looking at people screaming trying to get away in any way they can as this quake is occurring. initial reports, 7.1. no word yet on loss of life. no word yet on the devastation. obviously with that 8.0 quake that was all those years ago in 1985, the magnitude of that, the loss of life in that was tremendous. this at 7.1 is expected to do similar amounts damage. we are expecting something quite tragic here in the next few minutes and hours. it s one of those difficult things where the information may be slow to get to us about damage but we are looking at pictures of smoke coming off of buildings. this is one of the most populous cities in the world by a long shot, the most populous city in north america. you are seeing pictures now on both sides of your screen coming in. the ones on the left are ground level. and you are seeing real damage