Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 15, 1995 TAG: 9509150087
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO AP. LAURA ARIAS
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MEXICO CITY LENGTH: Medium
At least one child was killed. Officials said they could not confirm a report of three other deaths because there were no communications with the remote mountain village, 70 miles east of Acapulco and 190 miles southeast of Mexico City.
A 72-year-old man died of a heart attack at the time of the quake in the town of San Juan Colorado, in Oaxaca state, according to the state government.
Well over 200 adobe houses in the southwestern states of Oaxaca and Guerrero sustained shattered walls or collapsed roofs from the force of the quake, the largest in Mexico since an 8.1 quake struck on Sept. 19, 1985.
Tens of thousands of Mexico City residents, some shouting and others weeping with fear, fled into the streets of the capital when the ground began to roll with a sea-like motion at 8:04 a.m. (10:04 a.m. EDT).
The waves of the quake, centered near the Oaxaca-Guerrero state border about 190 miles south-southeast of Mexico City, lasted for nearly a minute.
Earthquake centers in Mexico and the United States measured it at magnitude 7.2 to 7.3. An earthquake of a 7 magnitude is a major quake capable of widespread heavy damage when centered in a heavily populated area.
At least seven small aftershocks of magnitudes up to 4 followed within the first hour, according to Mexico's National Seismological Service.
A falling wall killed an 8-year-old boy in the town of San Isidro Ometepec, said town secretary Carlos Pina Arzate.
Another death reported by Notimex, in the village of Azoyu, was denied by town officials.
Across the capital, emergency sirens shrieked and traffic suddenly halted on major highways as drivers stopped and jumped from their swaying cars. Crowds who had evacuated high-rises briefly blocked traffic.
``The people here are almost psychotic'' about quakes, said Alma Rosa Lopez, 31, who lives a few yards from where hundreds died in when a quake collapsed the 15-story Nuevo Leon Building on Sept. 19, 1985.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB