PM Netanyahu Orders Dispatch of Aid to Mexico

Israel received a request for assistance following the severe earthquake in Mexico.

Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered that assistance and a search and rescue operation be organized and leave for Mexico as soon as possible.

50 Search & Rescue experts will be flying out at 3 PM to Mexico, mostly engineers with some rescue people.

At least 224 were killed Tuesday when a powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck Puebla, Morelos and Mexico states in addition to Mexico City, toppling 27 buildings in the capital, panicking residents and knocking out power to some 3.8 million customers.

The temblor took place on the anniversary of a major earthquake that rocked the area in 1985 – an event that ironically had prompted an earthquake drill in buildings across the city earlier in the day.

The epicenter of Tuesday’s quake was identified at some 75 miles southeast of Mexico City, in the state of Puebla, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Most of Mexico’s 40,000-strong Jewish population lives in Mexico City, with many Mexican Jews tracing their ancestry back hundreds of years.