MEXICO CITY: Hopes of finding more survivors after Mexico City’s devastating earthquake have dwindled to virtually nothing, nearly a week after the seismic jolt shook the mega-city, killing more than 300 people.
Yet authorities were still accommodating anguished families who insisted that painstaking rescue operations continue at a handful of the dozens of buildings toppled by the magnitude 7.1 quake that struck Tuesday.
Foreign teams from Israel, the US and elsewhere worked with dogs and hi-tech gear to try to detect signs of life under the rubble.
In the first three days, 69 people were pulled out alive. But since late Friday, only bodies have been recovered.
On a poster in front of a collapsed office block where several people were trapped by the quake, a picture of one of those inside read: “Adrian, you are a warrior. Your family, friends and Dario are waiting for you.”
A series of smaller earthquakes in the south of Mexico on Saturday — including a 6.1-magnitude tremor that triggered seismic alerts — stoked panic in a population traumatized by Tuesday’s disaster. Two women in the capital died of heart attacks.
The shaking also forced a brief suspension of rescue efforts.
The tremors underlined the historic vulnerability of the country to quakes, sitting as it does atop five tectonic plates.
A 1985 earthquake that killed 10,000 people in Mexico City is still fresh in the minds of locals so many years later.
But some of the families hoping against hope to see trapped loved ones again also clung to memories of “miracle” rescues in 1985 that happened more than a week after that quake.
Experts say that, usually, there is little to no chance of finding quake survivors after three days.
Yet Mexico City’s mayor, Miguel Angel Mancera, insisted that around 30 people may still be found alive.
“I want to make absolutely clear that for the moment no building will be demolished and no type of heavy machinery will be used until we are fully certain” that all survivors and bodies are recovered, Navy Captain Sergio Suazo told reporters.
The smell of decaying bodies wafting from collapsed buildings presaged grief for some relatives.
Rescue workers wore face masks to shield themselves from the odor.
From the rubble of a flattened building in the south of the capital, emergency workers pulled out another body early Sunday. A thermal scanner on Saturday had suggested that two people might still be alive under the debris.
Survivors of another sort were found in the rubble of two crumpled buildings: a little white schnauzer dog and a squawking green parrot named Lucas.
Volunteer veterinarians were on hand at many search sites to give medical attention to saved pets, and to the sniffer dogs looking for survivors.
The Mexican and foreign crews bent on rescuing survivors refused to call it quits.
“We’re here to save lives. You have to have faith and believe (the people inside) are in a place with access to air and managed to survive,” said Karin Kvitca, a 29-year-old with an Israeli rescue crew.
So far, the foreign specialists have found only cadavers. At one point, Japanese rescuers removed their helmets and bowed before a recovered corpse.
The Japanese team later ended their task and pulled out, after a small ceremony.
The latest death toll stands at 320, of which 182 of the fatalities were recorded in Mexico City.
The other deaths occurred in the states of Morelos, Puebla, Mexico, Guerrero and Oaxaca.
In Mexico state, President Enrique Pena Nieto vowed there would be a rapid evaluation of the damage caused, and swift reconstruction of homes, schools and businesses.
“We remain very motivated, very united,” he said.
In the south of the capital, white wreaths were placed by the rubble of what used to be a school where 19 children and seven adults died. The latest to be pulled from the wreckage was a 32-year-old female cleaner.
An eight-year-old boy recovered alive was in an induced coma in hospital. He received videos rooting him on from his football heroes, including Dani Alves of Paris Saint-Germain and Arturo Vidal of Bayern Munich.
Nearly a week on, hopes fade in Mexico City quake rescue operations
Nearly a week on, hopes fade in Mexico City quake rescue operations
Left homeless by blaze, Muslims in southernmost Philippines observe Ramadan as month of trial
- Thousands lost their homes when parts of Bongao in Tawi-Tawi were burnt to ashes
- Many trying to fully observe the fasting month say they are grateful to be alive
Manila: As Annalexis Abdulla Dabbang was looking forward to observing the month of Ramadan with her family, just days before it began they lost everything when an enormous fire tore through whole neighborhoods of their city in the southernmost province of the Philippines.
Bongao is the capital of Tawi-Tawi, an island province, forming part of the country’s Muslim minority heartland in the Bangsamoro region. The city experienced its worst fire in years in early February, when flames swept through the coastal community, leaving more than 5,000 people homeless.
“We were swimming for our lives. We had to swim to escape from the fire ... We swam in darkness, and (even) the sea was already hot because of the fire,” Dabbang, a 27-year-old teacher, told Arab News.
“Everything we owned was gone in just a few hours — our home, our memories, the things we worked hard for, everything turned to ashes.”
Trying to save their 2-year-old daughter and themselves, she and her husband left everything behind — as did hundreds of other families that together with them have since taken shelter at the Mindanao State University gymnasium — one of the evacuation centers.
Unable to secure a tent, Dabbang’s family has been sleeping on the bleachers, sharing a single mat as their bed. When Ramadan arrived a few days after they moved to the makeshift shelter, they welcomed it in a different, more solemn way. There is no family privacy for suhoor, no room or means to welcome guests for iftar.
“Ramadan feels different now. It’s painful but at the same time more real. When we lost our home, we began to understand what sacrifice really means. When you sleep in an evacuation center, you understand hunger, discomfort in a deeper way,” Dabbang said.
“We don’t prepare special dishes. We prepare our hearts.”
While she and thousands of others have lost everything they have ever owned, she has not lost her faith.
“Our dreams may have turned to ashes, but our prayers are still alive,” she said.
“This Ramadan my prayers are more emotional than ever. I pray for strength, not just for myself, but for my family and for every neighbor who also lost their family home. I pray for healing from the trauma of fire. I pray that Allah will replace what we lost with something better. I pray for the chance to rebuild not just our house, but our sense of security.”
Juraij Dayan Hussin, a volunteer helping the Bongao fire victims, observed that many of them were traumatized and the need to cleanse the heart and mind during Ramadan was what kept many of them going, because they are “thankful that even though they lost their property, they are still alive.”
But the religious observance related to the fasting month is not easy in a cramped shelter.
“It’s hard for Muslims to perform their prayers when they do not have their proper attire because they usually have specific clothes for prayer,” he said. “Sanitation in the area is also an issue ... when you fast and when you pray, cleanliness is essential.”
For Abdulkail Jani, who is staying at a basketball court with his brother and more than 70 other families, this Ramadan will be spent apart from their parents, whom they managed to move to relatives.
“The month of Ramadan this year is a month of trial ... there will be a huge change from how we observed Ramadan in the past, but we will adjust to it and try to comfort ourselves and our family. The most important thing is that we can perform the fasting,” he told Arab News.
“Despite our situation now, despite everything, as long as we’re alive, we will observe Ramadan. We’ll try to observe it well, without missing anything.”
