Eyewitnesses describe their experiences as a magnitude 7.1 earthquake shook Mexico City Tuesday.

“I was having a meeting and then we ran out of the office. There were clouds of smoke everywhere and people screaming. After the earthquake there was really strong smell of petrol gas so we didn’t know where to go,” Rodrigo Lopez Orozco told CTV Vancouver.

“I was sitting at my desk doing some work and I felt a jolt. I jumped up, ran to the door. Everybody was just pouring out into the streets. It was a real shock. It was a really, really strong jolt,” freelance journalist David Agren told CTV News Channel.

“When it started moving it was like being on a really rocky boat. Your legs aren’t as strong as you think they are. You’re just trying to move as quickly as you can and hope it ends quickly,” Jaime Stein told CTV Vancouver.

“It was very hardcore,” former Mexico City congressman Agustin Barrios Gomez told CTV News Channel adding that the building he was staying in shook and cracked.

“I was in my apartment, actually making lunch and felt the effects immediately. I could tell it was strong, especially after last week’s eight-pointer off the coast. So immediately left my building. There was dust and debris falling, as well as some windows. My street was covered in dust,” Mexico City resident Adi Alsaid told CTV News Channel.

“We were on the top floor of a building, on the 14th floor, and I was sitting near a window and I felt the room shake a little and I thought it was maybe just somebody walking and then all of a sudden the building started to sway back and forth,” Hootsuite Global Director Jaime Stein told CTV Your Morning. “It continued to shake for what felt like forever. People were hanging onto each other. People were hanging onto walls, just trying to ride it out,” he added.

“It’s like a bad nightmare,” Mexico City resident Marco Aguilar told CTV News Channel. “Suddenly everything started shaking really bad. Within a few seconds the lamps, everything, was rocking from side to side and actually even going up and down.” City streets turned into a virtual parking lot after the quake, Aguilar explained. “Everybody was trying to get home and reach their loved ones,” he said, adding that it took one of his employees four hours to get home.