Juchitán De Zaragoza

Police, soldiers and emergency workers today raced to rescue survivors from the ruins of Mexico’s most powerful earthquake in a century, which killed at least 61 persons.

In the southern region hit hardest by the quake, emergency workers looked for survivors, or bodies, in the rubble of houses, churches and schools that were torn apart in the 8.1-magnitude quake.

President Enrique Pena Nieto said 45 persons were killed in Oaxaca, 12 in Chiapas and four in Tabasco. But the actual death toll could be over 80, according to figures reported by state officials.

Adding to the concerns, authorities warned another massive quake could follow within 24 hours of the first hit.

Pena Nieto was speaking from the hardest-hit city, Juchitan in Oaxaca, where at least 36 bodies were pulled from the ruins. The city’s eerily quiet streets were a maze of rubble, with roofs, cables, insulation and concrete chunks scattered everywhere.

A crowd had formed at Juchitan’s partially collapsed town hall, a Spanish colonial building where two policemen were trapped in the rubble.

Rescuers managed to extract one and were still working to save the other 18 hours after the quake. “God, let him come out alive!” said a woman watching as four cranes and a fleet of trucks removed what remained of the building’s crumbled wing.

A hotel mostly collapsed and many homes were badly damaged in the predominantly indigenous town of 100,000 people, which is tucked into the lush green southern mountains near the coast.