MEXICO CITY—A powerful earthquake jolted central Mexico on Tuesday, causing buildings to sway sickeningly in the capital on the anniversary of a 1985 quake that did major damage.National Civil Protection chief Luis Felipe Puente tweeted that there were no reports of damage so far, but thousands of people fled office buildings along the central Reforma Avenue as alarms blared, and traffic stopped around the Angel of Independence monument.The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 7.1 and was centred near the Puebla state town of Raboso, about 123 kilometres southeast of Mexico City.In Mexico City pictures fell from walls, objects were shaken off of flat surfaces and computer monitors toppled over. Some people dove for cover under desks.On Mexico City`s main boulevard, thousands of people streamed out of buildings into the streets in a panic, filling the plaza around the Independence Monument with a mass of people.Traffic came to a standstill, as masses of workers blocked streets. Clouds of dust rose from fallen pieces of facades.Office workers hugged each other to calm themselves.In the city`s Roma neighbourhood, which was struck hard by the 85 quake, small piles of stucco and brick fallen from building facades littered the streets.Two men calmed a woman, blood trickling form a small wound on her knee, seated on a stool in the street, telling her to breathe deeply.At a nearby market, a worker in a hard hat walked around the outside of the building, warning people not to smoke as a smell of cooking gas filled the air.Market stall vendor Edith Lopez, 25, had been in a taxi a few blocks away when the quake struck. She said she saw glass bursting out of the windows of some buildings.Buildings have been seriously damaged in Mexico City after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake shook central Mexico.Local television stations broadcast images of collapsed facades and streets filled with rubble.There were no immediate reports of casualties.Earlier in the d ...
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