JOJULTA, Mexico (CCTV) — The death toll from Tuesday’s 7.1-magnitude earthquake in central Mexico has climbed to 273, the government said on Thursday.
Half of those deaths occurred in the capital Mexico City, where nearly 40 buildings collapsed, while the other half in the surrounding states.
According to a release from the national civil protection agency, 137 people were killed in the capital, 73 in Morelos state, 43 in Puebla state, 13 in the State of Mexico, six in Guerrero state and one person in Oaxaca state.
The death toll is likely to rise as rescue operations continue and bodies are retrieved from the rubbles, the agency said.
In Jojutla, a small town in the state of Morelos, the army has provided shelter for 400 residents, and hot food for up to 500 a day, according to a colonel at site.
Meanwhile, donations continue to pour in from all over Mexico and even Mexicans living abroad have come to help, like U.S.-based aerospace engineer, Enrique Ramirez.
“It’s amazing how people can come together and actually help create this big thing [so] that everybody [can] have something. We are a small piece of the puzzle, but I think it’s amazing. I don’t have the words actually to describe the emotions that I feel by looking all the people here helping,” said Ramirez.
Experts say earthquake victims can survive up to 72 hours, or three days without water. With the quake occurring at around 13:00 on Tuesday, chances of finding survivors would fall considerably around the same time on Friday.