Watch: The moment when 7.1-magnitude quake hit Mexico; death toll rises to 224

 At least 224 people were killed by a powerful earthquake that struck central Mexico on Tuesday, the nation's civil protection agency said.

The death toll in Mexico City surged to 117 people, Luis Felipe Puente, the head of the agency, wrote in a post on Twitter. The earthquake struck on the 32nd anniversary of a temblor that killed thousands in the capital.

The state of Morelos, just south of Mexico City, was also hard hit with 55 killed, Puente said. At least 12 people were killed in the neighboring state of Mexico, and three deaths were reported in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast. 

Dozens of buildings tumbled into mounds of rubble or were severely damaged in densely populated parts of Mexico City and nearby states. Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said buildings fell at 44 places in the capital alone as high-rises across the city swayed sickeningly.

The moment the 7.1-magnitude quake hit Jojutla, in Morelos State, south of Mexico City https://t.co/Vu1Up9b7MQ pic.twitter.com/dp39pUQT2V

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 20, 2017

Among buildings that collapsed in the capital on Tuesday were apartment blocks, a school, a factory and a supermarket. The fashionable Roma district was hard hit, and a six-story apartment building was among several collapses reported.

Hours after the quake, rescue workers were still clawing through the wreckage of a primary school that partly collapsed in the city's south looking for any children who might be trapped. Some relatives said they had received Whatsapp message from two girls inside.

The quake is the deadliest in Mexico since a 1985 quake on the same date killed thousands. It came less than two weeks after another powerful quake caused 90 deaths in the country's south