Strong quake rekindles memories of past disasters in Mexico

A powerful earthquake that rattled south and central Mexico caused little apparent destruction but rekindled fears in a population that still sees daily reminders of deadly earthquakes five months ago.

People stands in the street as an earthquake shakes Mexico City, Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Bernandino Hernandez)

Maricarmen Trujillo was in the same place Friday on the eighth floor of a Mexico City office building where she rode out a Sept. 19 earthquake that killed 228 people in the capital alone.

"I relived a lot of those moments," Trujillo said, still jittery. But this time an emergency app on her cellphone gave her a 30-second warning before things started to shake. She stayed in place, but felt more prepared.

People walk down the center of a street in the Roma neighborhood after an earthquake shook Mexico City, Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Other people in Mexico City and southern Oaxaca state, where the quake's epicenter was located, flooded the streets as the ground seethed, memories of collapsed buildings still fresh. A magnitude 8.2 quake on Sept. 7 killed nearly 100 people in Oaxaca and neighboring Chiapas.

People stand along Reforma Avenue after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake shook Mexico City, Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

In Mexico City, the wounds from the Sept. 19 quake still had not healed when Friday's earthquake struck. Many buildings left uninhabitable are still awaiting demolition. People pass roped off cracked buildings and cleared lots on a daily basis.

A woman is helped outside, along Reforma Avenue after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake shook Mexico City, Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Mercedes Rojas Huerta wasted no time running barefoot out of her home in Mexico City's Condesa neighborhood when she heard the earthquake alarm on Friday. The district is the site of numerous collapsed and badly damaged buildings from last year's temblor.

People stand outside, along Reforma Avenue after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake shook Mexico City, Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

"I'm scared," Rojas Huerta said outside her home, too afraid to go back inside, recalling how the buildings fell five months ago. "The house is old."

The streets of Condesa were flooded by residents fleeing their homes, including one woman wrapped just in a towel.

Patients rest in their hospital beds parked outside the General Hospital after they were evacuated, in Veracruz, Mexico, Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez)

The U.S. Geological Survey originally put the magnitude of Friday's quake at 7.5 but later lowered it to 7.2. It said the epicenter was 33 miles (53 kilometers) northeast of Pinotepa in southern Oaxaca state. It had a depth of 15 miles (24 kilometers).

About an hour after the quake, a magnitude 5.8 aftershock also centered in Oaxaca caused tall buildings in Mexico City to briefly sway again.

An evacuated patient sits outside the General Hospital after an earthquake, in Veracruz, Mexico, Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez)

USGS seismologist Paul Earle said Friday's earthquake appeared to be a separate temblor, rather than an aftershock of a Sept. 7 earthquake in Oaxaca.

Mexican Civil Protection chief Luis Felipe Puente tweeted that there were no immediate reports of damages from Friday's quake and by the evening there had been no reports of deaths.

The Oaxaca state government said via Twitter that only material damages were reported near Pinotepa and Santiago Jamiltepec. But it added that shelters had been opened for those fleeing damaged homes.

Two diners sit outside a restaurant on Reforma Avenue after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake shook Mexico City, Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

Gladys Barreno Castro was at work on the 29th floor of a downtown office building in Mexico City, but recognized quickly that the shaking was not as violent this time.

A woman and man evacuate a building during a 7.2-magnitude earthquake in Mexico City, Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

"It lasted a long time, but it wasn't as strong," Barreno said. "This time it moved, but I didn't think that it was going to destroy the city like the last time."

Two diners sit outside a restaurant on Reforma Avenue after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake shook Mexico City, Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Two Australians and an American were doing what they loved on the stunning, largely isolated stretch of Baja California's Pacific coast. Their last images on social media showed them sitting and gazing at the waves, contemplating the breaks.

What happened to end their lives may have been as random as a passing pickup truck full of people with ill intent. The surfers were shot in the head, their bodies dumped in a covered well miles away. How it unfolded was the stuff of nightmares.

Brothers Jake and Callum Robinson from Australia and American Jack Carter Rhoad had apparently stopped to surf the breaks between Punta San José, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Ensenada, and La Bocana, further north on the coast. They were attacked there on April 28 or 29.

As soon as police arrived at their last known camp site, it was clear that something had gone violently wrong.

There were bloodstains and marks “as if heavy objects had been dragged," leading to suspicions of an attack, the Baja California state prosecutor's office said in an attempt to reconstruct the scene.

Chief state prosecutor María Elena Andrade Ramírez described what likely would have been moments of terror that ended the trip for the three men.

She theorized the killers drove by and saw the foreigners’ pickup truck and tents and wanted to steal the truck's tires and other parts. But “when (the foreigners) came up and caught them, surely, they resisted.”

She said that’s when the killers would have shot the men. She said they were likely not attacked because they were tourists. "The evidence suggests they (the killers) did not know where they were from.”

Andrade Ramírez said the reconstruction of events was based on the forensic examiner's reports, noting all three had bullet wounds to the head.

There was a hurried attempt to destroy evidence. The foreigners’ tents were apparently burned. The pickup truck was driven miles away and burned. The assailants' truck was later found with a gun inside.

Then, at “a site that is extremely hard to get to,” the bodies were dumped into a well about 4 miles (6 kilometers) away. Investigators were surprised when, underneath the bodies of the three foreigners, a fourth body was found that had been there much longer.

"They had to have previous knowledge of it," Andrade Ramírez said of the attackers, acknowledging the possibility they were behind the previous killing.

The well had been covered with boards. “It was literally almost impossible to find it,” Andrade Ramírez said. It took two hours to winch the bodies out.

Prosecutors have said they were questioning three people in the killings. Two were caught with methamphetamines. One of them, a woman, had one of the victims' cellphones when she was caught. Prosecutors said the two were being held pending drug charges but continue to be suspects in the killings.

A third man was arrested on charges of a crime equivalent to kidnapping, but that was before the bodies were found. It was unclear if he might face more charges.

The third man was believed to have directly participated in the killings. In keeping with Mexican law, prosecutors identified him by his first name, Jesús Gerardo, alias “el Kekas,” a slang word that means quesadillas, or cheese tortillas.

Andrade Ramírez said he had a criminal record that included drug dealing, vehicle theft and domestic violence, adding, “We are certain that more people were involved.”

She emphasized that she could not discuss anything related to the suspects, or their possible statements, because that was not allowed under Mexican law and might prejudice the case against them.

Andrade Ramírez noted that the victims' families said the brothers and Rhoad had come many times to the seaside spot and never had any problem. This time, however, "there was no way to ask for help when the attackers showed up.”

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday he had requested an opportunity to speak to the brothers’ parents Deborah and Martin Robinson.

“This is a terrible tragedy and my heart goes out to them. To identify these wonderful young men and they have been travelling in Mexico. We’ve been dealing with them through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. I’ve indicated that I wish to speak to them at an appropriate time of their choosing,” Albanese told reporters in the Queensland state town of Rockhampton.

A demonstrator holding a bodyboard written in Spanish " They just wanted to surf and they were executed" protests the disappearance of foreign surfers in Ensenada, Mexico, Sunday, May 5, 2024. Mexican authorities said Friday that three bodies were recovered in an area of Baja California near where two Australians and an American went missing last weekend during an apparent camping and surfing trip. (AP Photo/Karen Castaneda)

A man holds flowers during a tribute to 3 missing surfers in Ensenada, Mexico, Sunday, May 5, 2024. Mexican authorities said Friday that three bodies were recovered in an area of Baja California near where two Australians and an American went missing last weekend during an apparent camping and surfing trip. (AP Photo/Karen Castaneda)

Surfers throw flowers during a tribute to 3 missing surfers in Ensenada, Mexico, Sunday, May 5, 2024. Mexican authorities said Friday that three bodies were recovered in an area of Baja California near where two Australians and an American went missing last weekend during an apparent camping and surfing trip. (AP Photo/Karen Castaneda)

The photos of the foreign surfers who disappeared are placed on the beach in Ensenada, Mexico, Sunday, May 5, 2024. Mexican authorities said Friday that three bodies were recovered in an area of Baja California near where two Australians and an American went missing last weekend during an apparent camping and surfing trip. (AP Photo/Karen Castaneda)