Mexican Earthquake

MEXICO CITY--Newspapers here reported between four and nine persons dead in the wake of Wednesday's earthquake. Another 100 were reported injured.

City police refused to confirm any of the deaths, although one official said, "It is believed that there are probably six dead, but this has not been confirmed."

Many buildings in the city were closed yesterday as officials assessed damage from the earthquake, which rocked the city with a series of six shocks Wednesday afternoon.

The quake's most severe shock registered from 6.5 to 7.9 on the Richter scale, making it "possibly the worst in Mexican history" according to seismological experts at the national university.

The epicenter of the quake was about ten miles off the Mexican coast. "It would have been much worse if the epicenter had been located on land," Gesar Bauza, a leading Mexican meteorologist, said yesterday.