Quake and storm leave ruinous human, economic toll for Mexico

A pair of devastating earthquakes and Tropical Storm Lidia in Mexico killed more than 400 people and toppled 150,000 houses and other buildings and structures, authorities said Wednesday.

The damage included almost 12,000 ruined schools to the tune of 717 million dollars. And that was in addition to 1,500 national monument structures worth about $440 million dollars. All three disasters hit in September.

"The raw, preliminary numbers cross over from homes, to monuments, to thousands of schools that have to be completely rebuilt," President Enrique Pena Nieto told reporters after a meeting of his cabinet and local officials.

In early September, Tropical Storm Lidia killed at least seven people in Baja California Sur, in northwestern Mexico.

And on September 7, an 8.2 earthquake shook the nation and killed about 100 people mostly in the southern state of Oaxaca.

Then on September 19 -- the 32nd anniversary of a huge 1985 quake that killed 10,000 people -- another 7.1 quake rocked the country. So far, 337 people have been killed, mostly in Mexico City.

source: AFP