Mexico City building crumbles during deadly quake

ByJULIA JACOBO ABCNews logo
Thursday, September 21, 2017

A large portion of a building in Mexico City was seen crumbling onto the ground below after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Central Mexico Tuesday afternoon.

The exterior facade covering several stories of a National Employment Service building was seen falling off the structure on video posted to Twitter. The building is located in Transparency Square, near the city's center.

Panicked bystanders are heard in the background as people flee in the dust from the raining debris.

More than 200 people were killed after the earthquake struck Tuesday afternoon near the town of Rabosa in Puebla State. Dozens of buildings were leveled from the quake's powerful tremors.

The earthquake on Tuesday came 12 days after a 8.1 earthquake hit off Mexico's Pacific Coast and on the 32nd anniversary of the Michoacán earthquake of 1985, the biggest earthquake to ever hit the country's capital

Mexico City is built on an ancient lake bed, which contains soil that amplifies the seismic impact from an earthquake, increasing its devastating potential.

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