Owner of school that collapsed in Mexico quake indicted

The owner of an elementary school in Mexico City that collapsed in a 2017 earthquake, killing 19 children and seven adults, was indicted Thursday on homicide charges after construction irregularities were found at the site.

Monica Garcia Villegas, owner of the private Rebsamen elementary school, was arrested Saturday after she spent more than a year on the run. She will now face trial on 26 counts of culpable homicide, officials said.

"She is accused of allowing construction work at the school that violated existing regulations... and may have led to the facility's collapse and the victims' deaths," prosecutors said in a statement after her arraignment at a Mexico City court.

The school was the focus of worldwide attention in the hours after the September 19, 2017 earthquake, as rescuers mounted a round-the-clock effort to find any survivors.

Rumors of a young girl trapped alive under the flattened complex soon evaporated, however, leaving only the grim toll of bodies beneath the rubble.

Garcia Villegas immediately went into hiding as reports emerged that she had built a big apartment with even a jacuzzi atop the school without obtaining the necessary construction permits.

Experts say the extra weight likely contributed to the building's collapse.

Garcia Villegas became a symbol of the corruption that, according to activists and victims' families, makes the toll of Mexico City's frequent earthquakes even worse.

The watchdog group Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity published an extensive report last year documenting 28 cases of collapsed buildings where cost-cutting by owners and construction companies, combined with graft or incompetence by the authorities, amplified the tragedy of the earthquake.

The government had offered a reward of more than $250,000 for information leading to Garcia Villegas's arrest, and she was on Interpol's fugitive list.

Authorities say she was captured in Mexico City as she joined her father for lunch at a restaurant, though her lawyers maintain she turned herself in.

She was denied bail, and is being held in a Mexico City prison.

100 displaced on remote island by Papua New Guinea quake
Kokopo, Papua New Guinea (AFP) May 17, 2019 - More than 100 people living on a remote tropical island were displaced by this week's massive earthquake in Papua New Guinea, according to responders who, days later, have finally reached affected communities.

Disaster authorities said an elderly disabled woman was injured when one of several homes collapsed in the outlying Duke of York islands in the north of the country amid Tuesday's quake.

Areas close to the epicentre have reported surprisingly little damage from the magnitude 7.5 tremblor, but even as power has returned to urban areas, the government has struggled to reach remote island communities.

Provincial Disaster Coordinator Wilson Matava told AFP that his office was now planning to "provide tarpaulins for temporary shelter, food and water and also mosquito nets" for residents of the Duke of York Islands.

The low lying isles sit on two tectonic plates and are at risk of being inundated by rising sea levels.

The terrifying quake late Tuesday sent residents running from their homes for safety and sparked fears of a tsunami.

It occurred around 11pm (1300 GMT), some 44 kilometres (27 miles) northeast of Kokopo on New Britain island, the US Geological Survey said.

Papua New Guinea's poor communications infrastructure, lack of roads and difficult terrain mean that sometimes it can be days before the full impact of a natural disaster is known.

The United Nations estimated that around 120,000 people live within 50 kilometres of the epicentre.

According to Matava further assessments are still needed in the coming days.

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Powerful quake rattles residents on Papua New Guinea island
Kokopo, Papua New Guinea (AFP) May 14, 2019
A violent 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck an island chain off the north coast of Papua New Guinea late Tuesday, knocking out power and sending residents fleeing for safety. The shallow quake occurred around 11pm (1300 GMT), some 44 kilometres (27 miles) northeast of Kokopo on New Britain island, the US Geological Survey said. "It was massive, absolutely massive. Very scary," Megan Martin, the managing director of the Ropopo Plantation Resort in Kokopo, told AFP. "There does not appear to be ... read more