Mexico earthquake

The magnitude 7.1 shock killed at least 226 people, nearly half of them in the capital and among them at least 22 school children.

The swimming and powerlifting events were due to start at the end of the month with 1,400 athletes, officials and staff involved and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said that this was the first time it had been forced to postpone a major championship.

Rescue workers are searching for survivors buried under rubble and officials warn the death toll may rise.

The 7.1 magnitude quake caused damage in Morelos and Puebla states and in Mexico State.

It struck while many people took part in an earthquake drill exactly 32 years after a quake killed thousands.

The country is prone to earthquakes and earlier this month an 8.1 magnitude tremor in the south left at least 90 dead.

The 8.1 magnitude quake left at least 61 people dead, according to officials.

Another 200 people were injured, President Enrique Peña Nieto said, as he declared a national day of mourning.

Meanwhile, the feared category one Hurricane Katia, which struck Veracruz on the east coast on Saturday, has been downgraded to a tropical storm.

The US National Hurricane Center reported Katia had been rapidly weakening ever since making landfall, but local officials are worried the storm could still cause landslides and flooding.

The 8.1 magnitude quake late on Thursday (local time) was stronger than a devastating 1985 temblor that flattened swathes of Mexico City and killed thousands.

This time damage to the city was limited as the quake was deeper and further from the capital.

Elsewhere in the country, the quake tore through buildings, forced mass evacuations and triggered alerts as far away as Southeast Asia.

"It almost knocked me over," said Gildardo Arenas Rios, a 64-year-old security guard in Mexico City's Juarez neighborhood, who was making his rounds when buildings began moving.