A magnitude-7.1 earthquake hit central Mexico on Tuesday, killing over 200 people and collapsing buildings and bridges in five states and in the capital. Entire towns have been flattened. Rescue workers and neighbors are scrambling to reach survivors still trapped in the rubble.
Eerily, the quake struck on the anniversary of a powerful earthquake that devastated Mexico City in 1985, leaving 10,000 dead. Tuesday's destruction comes less than two weeks after an 8.2 earthquake struck near Mexico's Pacific Coast.
The UNICEF Mexico Country Office in Mexico City reports that around 2.5 million people do not have electricity in the city and that at least 29 buildings have collapsed. The city is in chaos and phone lines are unreliable.
According to news reports, at least 30 children died after a school collapsed in Mexico City, 75 miles from the earthquake's epicenter. More than 2,000 public schools suffered damage in the quake.
The Mexico Country Office also shared advice for families on its social media pages, counseling parents and caregivers to keep their children calm by giving them lots of love and attention, and offering safety tips: "Explain to children that they should stay away from debris and damaged buildings because they are not safe."
Actress Salma Hayek launched a fundraising campaign to support UNICEF's work helping children and families hurt in Mexico's recent wave of natural disasters. She lost friends and an uncle in Mexico's 1985 earthquake, and remembers all too well the horrific aftermath. Hayek herself donated $100,000 to UNICEF.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook is supporting UNICEF's recovery efforts in Mexico by waiving fees on all donations to UNICEF made through Facebook tools.
Immediately after the September 7 quake hit Chiapas and Oaxaca, UNICEF dispatched three Rapid Response Teams to assess the needs of the 2.1 million children and adolescents living in the affected areas.
“After a traumatic experience as serious as this, it's key for children's recovery to resume their normal routine as soon as possible, and part of it is returning to school," said Pressia Arifin Cabo, UNICEF Mexico's Deputy Representative, from the southern state of Chiapas.
As Mexico struggles to recover from this most recent natural disaster, UNICEF Mexico's priorities will be to provide urgently needed water, sanitation and hygiene, along with child protection and social and emotional support. In the weeks to come, UNICEF will be helping vulnerable children and youth to resume their educations as soon as possible
