Fear, death, hope and heroism in Mexico's earthquake aftermath

A faint, gentle swaying in the early afternoon quickly escalated into a violent, sickening dance as a magnitude 7.1 earthquake cracked and crumbled vulnerable buildings old and new. Hundreds became trapped in the country’s deadliest quake in three decades.

The Associated Press photo staff based in Mexico City covered the quake and its aftermath. Below is a gallery featuring their work.

People evacuated from office buildings gather in Reforma Avenue after an earthquake in Mexico City, Tuesday Sept. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

An injured man is pulled out of a building that collapsed during an earthquake in the Roma Norte neighborhood of Mexico City, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

A woman tries to reach people on her cellphone after she evacuated with others to Paseo de la Reforma Avenue after an earthquake in Mexico City, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

The body of woman hangs crushed by a collapsed building in the neighborhood of Roma Norte, in Mexico City, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

Volunteers pick up the rubble from a building that collapsed during an earthquake in the Condesa neighborhood of Mexico City, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Rescue workers and volunteers search for survivors in the aftermath of a 7.1 magnitude earthquake, at the Ninos Heroes neighborhood in Mexico City, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Miguel Tovar)

A car sits crushed from a building felled by a 7.1 earthquake, in Jojutla, Morelos state, Mexico, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Emergency personnel rush past with a gurney carrying a victim rescued from the rubble of a building that collapsed during a 7.1 earthquake, in the Colonia Obrera neighborhood of Mexico City, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Miguel Tovar)

A man is rescued from a collapsed building in the Condesa neighborhood of Mexico City after an earthquake in Mexico, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Pablo Ramos)

Families fearing aftershocks sleep on the street in the Roma neighborhood of Mexico City, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Family members attend a wake for toddler Daniel Novoa and his aunt, Marta Cruz, fatal victims of a 7.1 earthquake, in Jojutla, Morelos state, Mexico, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

A man walks his bike past a building felled by a 7.1 earthquake, in Jojutla, Morelos state, Mexico, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

The earthquake damaged wall of a home stands in Tlayacapan, Morelos state, Mexico, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Rescue workers search for people trapped inside a collapsed building felled by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake in the Del Valle area of Mexico City, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Locals carry the casket of a woman who died in Tuesday's earthquake, in Tlayacapan, Morelos state, Mexico, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Rescue workers search for survivors at an apartment building located on the street corner of Amsterdam and Laredo, that collapsed during an earthquake in the Condesa neighborhood of Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 21, 2017. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Rescue workers carry a body recovered from a building felled by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake, in the Ciudad Jardin neighborhood of Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 21, 2017. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Rescue workers search for people trapped inside a collapsed building in the Roma Norte neighborhood of Mexico City, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

A nurse runs during rescue efforts at the Enrique Rebsamen school in Mexico City, Mexico, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

A search team member reads a list of people rescued as she waits to be called to work on the search of the still missing in an area where buildings were felled by a powerful earthquake in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 21, 2017. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

People embrace during an outdoor Catholic Mass near the Enrique Rebsamen school that collapsed during the earthquake in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 21, 2017. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Volunteers and soldiers remove a destroyed vehicle from a parking lot of a four-story clothing factory felled by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake, in Mexico City, Friday, Sept. 22, 2017. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)

Architect Victor Marquez checks a cracked wall that was not caused by the recent earthquake during his survey of a seven-floor apartment building, in Mexico City’s Roma neighborhood, Friday, Sept. 22, 2017. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

A rescue dog is helped to recuperate by volunteers after he became exhausted during search and rescue operations at a building felled by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake, in the Ciudad Jardin neighborhood of Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 21, 2017. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Family members who have been camped out for days nap under a tarp alongside the collapsed office building where they believe their relatives are trapped, in the Roma Norte neighborhood of Mexico City, just after midnight on Sept. 23, 2017, more than three days after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake toppled buildings. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Family members embrace as they wait for news of their relatives outside a quake-collapsed seven-story building in Mexico City's Roma Norte neighborhood, Friday, Sept. 22, 2017. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Mexican Marine soldiers stand guard at a search and rescue site of a felled office building brought down by a 7.1-magnitude earthquake, in the Roma Norte neighborhood, in Mexico City, Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Children from an Otomi indigenous family pass the time drawing, on the sidewalk of their apartment building after it was declared uninhabitable by authorities after Tuesday's 7.1 earthquake, at the corner of Guanajuato and Monterrey streets in the Roma neighborhood of Mexico City, Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

In this Sept. 22, 2017 photo, a civilian dressed in fatigues passes out chocolate to police guarding the site of an office building that collapsed during Tuesday's 7.1 earthquake, as search and rescue operations continue there at the corner of Oaxaca and Alvaro Obregon streets in the Roma Norte neighborhood in Mexico City. (AP Photo/Gustavo Martinez Contreras)

Volunteers take a break from rescue efforts on the outskirts of an office building that was felled by a 7.1-magnitude earthquake during their search for survivors, in the Roma Norte neighborhood of Mexico City, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

The shadows of Catholic faithful are cast on a wall where people have placed flower offerings, during a Mass remembering the victims of the recent 7.1-magnitude earthquake, at the Basilica of Guadalupe, in Mexico City, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Family members frustrated over a lack of information and results at a rescue operation in the Roma Norte neighborhood hold up signs reading "Where are the bodies?" and showing pictures of missing relatives, as they protest in Mexico City, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Debris from the cupola of the Our Lady of Angels Church is scattered on the wooden pews and floor below a framed image of Pope John Paul II, in Mexico City, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Enric Marti)

In this Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017 photo, mariachis pray during a wedding ceremony in an empty lot in front of a church that was collapsed by the recent earthquake, in Atzala, Mexico. As the church shifted to recovery mode, the planned church wedding instead took place outside. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

In this Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017 photo, a framed image of a religious icon hangs precariously on a cracked wall of the Santiago Apostol church destroyed during the recent 7.1-magnitude earthquake, in Atzala, Mexico. Little remains of the golden yellow church with a red roof where a child’s baptism turned into tragedy when the roof of a church collapsed as the powerful earthquake shook central Mexico. Eleven members of a family died, including the 2-month-old girl being christened. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Teresa Cantu Luna, 66, cries as she stands before a collection of religious statues that had to be removed from a quake-damaged church for their safe keeping, in Tepeojuma, Mexico, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017. The Archdiocese of Mexico says more than 150 religious temples in this deeply Catholic country were damaged during the deadly quake. Many of the battered buildings are in the state of Puebla, where the epicenter was located. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

A man rests his hat on his lap during Mass, inside an auditorium because the town's church was damaged in the recent 7.1-magnitude earthquake, in Tepeojuma, Mexico, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017. On the first Sunday after the earthquake, priests urged parishioners to use this painful moment in the country's history as a moment of reflection. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Volunteers hand out free meals after this week's massive 7.1 earthquake, in San Gregorio Atlapulco, Mexico, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017. Inhabitants of the villages that dot the largely rural southern edge of Mexico City said they feel abandoned, as aid and rescue workers focused on the 38 buildings that collapsed nearer the city's downtown during the quake. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Candles surround Catholic images in a street altar erected near the site of a toppled building in Amsterdam Street in the Condesa neighborhood of Mexico City, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017. As rescue operations stretched into day 6, residents throughout the capital have held out hope that dozens still missing might be found alive.(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

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Text from the AP news story, 24 hours of fear and death, hope and heroism in Mexico. 

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