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AGENCIES
Mexico City
At least four people were killed by a powerful 7.1 magnitude earthquake that hit Mexico on Tuesday, local officials said.
Two people were killed in the central state of Puebla after a school collapsed said Fernando Clemente, a civil protection official in the state.
Two more people died in the State of Mexico, governor Alfredo Del Mazo told local TV, and Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said there were no reports of deaths yet in the capital but that some people were trapped in burning buildings.
The quake sowed panic in the sprawling city of 20 million people, many of whom have memories of the quake 32 years ago that killed some 10,000 people in Mexico City.
"I'm so worried. I can't stop crying. It's the same nightmare as in 1985," one resident in a plaza in the capital, Georgina Sanchez, 52, sobbed to AFP.
The US Geological Survey put the quake's magnitude at 7.1. Mexico's Seismological Institute said it measured 6.8 on its scale, but later revised it to 7.1.
The institute said the quake's epicentre was seven kilometres (four miles) west of Chiautla de Tapia, in the neighbouring state of Puebla.
Tuesday's quake occurred hours after authorities had conducted an earthquake drill.
AFP journalists captured images of collapsed buildings, a car crushed by rubble, and debris-strewn streets.
City residents also posted photos online of damage to buildings in their neighbourhoods.
Emergency officials warned people not to smoke in the street, warning of possible ruptured gas pipes.
Alfredo Aguilar, a 43-year-old resident, said the quake was"really strong -- buildings started to move."
He added that he saw a woman who fainted."People started to run."
