Fourteen LDS families were evacuated to Church meetinghouses following a series of explosions in this city's sewer systems that ripped open streets and demolished buildings April 22, killing nearly 200 people and injuring 1,470.

No members or missionaries were injured, nor were any meetinghouses damaged. At least nine blasts opened ruptures in streets for about five miles. The ruptures were about six yards deep and three yards wide, centering in the city's Reforma District.Cars plunged into the gorge and more than 1,400 homes and 450 businesses were destroyed or damaged.

Officials said the blasts were caused by leaking gasoline from a nearby pipeline that drained into the sewer lines.

The 14 LDS families from the Reforma area who were evacuated moved into the Revolucion Ward and Tlaquepaque Ward meetinghouses for two days but required no assistance, said Elder F. Melvin Hammond of the Seventy, a member of the Mexico Area presidency. After two days, officials secured the area against further explosions.

About 200 LDS members live in the Reforma District. Elder Hammond said he believed members were among volunteers in the community who searched the wreckage for survivors after the devastation.

Many people were trapped in the debris and had to be freed by volunteers. Some workers chopped through the doors of collapsed buildings with axes to get at people trapped inside.

Bishop Ruben Munoz of the Libertad Ward, Guadalajara Mexico Reforma Stake, a taxi driver, lost his vehicle in the explosions but was not in the taxi at the time. A finance office on the street owned by a member was seriously damaged as well.

Pres. Francisco Pineda of the Mexico Guadalajara Mission said that three sets of missionaries work in the district, but four of the elders were away from the area when the blasts began.

The third pair, Elders Allen Sargent and Rogelio Ozuna, had appointments to teach two families on Gante Avenue, where the main explosions occurred, that morning. However, he said, "they felt impressed to go to their appointments later that morning." They were on their way to the street when they heard the explosions begin.

Pres. Pineda said missionaries were restricted from the area in the explosion aftermath because of the possibility of further explosions that continued for the first few days.

On Monday, April 27, missionaries were to return to the area and volunteer to help in determining if food and clothing were needed, he said.