The official death toll after Mexico's 8.1 magnitude earthquake has risen to 96 as more deaths were confirmed in the hard-hit southern states of Oaxaca and Chiapas.

An explosion has ripped through Mexico's best-known fireworks market on the northern outskirts of the capital, killing at least nine people, injuring scores more and sending a huge plume of smoke billowing into the sky.

Hurricane Wilma inched toward Florida today as winds and rain continued to whip Mexico's devastated Caribbean coast.

A POWERFUL earthquake has ripped through western and central Mexico, killing at least 23 people and injuring about 160 as dozens of homes and buildings collapsed.