Mexico's post-quake rebuilding to conclude in 2020

MEXICO CITY - The restoration and reconstruction in southern and central Mexican regions attacked by two powerful quakes in 2017 will end next year, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Wednesday.

"We believe the (rebuilding) program will be completed by the end of next year," the president told a daily press conference.

The Lopez Obrador administration, which took office on Dec 1, expects 40 percent of the reconstruction work will be completed by the end of the year, he added.

"There are no budget constraints ... and we will fulfill any demand, (which) is included in our government priorities," Lopez Obrador said.

On Sept 7 and Sept 19, 2017, Mexico was hit by magnitude 8.2 and 7.1 earthquakes respectively, in which some 500 people were killed and a large number of buildings damaged in southern and central states, including capital Mexico City.

The quakes had damaged some 186,526 houses, along with 19,198 schools, nearly 297 hospitals and clinics, and 2,340 historic buildings, said Minister of Agrarian Development and Urban Planning Roman Meyer, citing the estimates of the previous administration.

National Commissioner for Reconstruction David Cervantes said 30 percent of the reconstruction project has been finished so far.