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Article snippet: JOJUTLA, Mexico — The remnants of their life lay before them like some crude exhibit in a gallery of loss: a pink Bible, a Mickey Mouse T-shirt, earthenware plates and enamel pots. Their home was gone, reduced to crumbled bits of adobe that now held a menagerie of odds and ends pulled from the wreckage after Tuesday’s earthquake, which leveled large parts of Jojutla, a town unaccustomed to earthquakes, and left at least 28 people dead. Nationwide, the death toll rose to at least 273 on Thursday, the president’s office said. “We have seen this on television but we never imagined it could happen to us,” said Hilda Nava Batalla, 59, standing among her belongings under a makeshift roof in what was her home, where the family had lined up the furniture they rescued. Jojutla, with 60,000 residents in Morelos State, is near the epicenter of the earthquake and was among the hardest-hit places in all of Mexico. Almost half of the small one- and two-story structures in the town’s center were destroyed. Those still standing were often badly damaged: balconies twisted from their moorings and gaping holes in the sides of homes. In years past, when tremors have shaken or rattled Mexico City, the capital, and other parts of the country, Jojutla’s residents weathered the worst with little damage. This time, they received more than their share of it. “For the first time in history it happened right here,” said Efraín Castro, the deputy mayor. “Jojutla will never be the same.” Clus... Link to the full article to read more