Related News
Race to rescue girl alive under quake rubble
Print Edition
AS dawn broke yesterday, rescuers labored against the odds to save a 12-year-old schoolgirl and other possible survivors trapped beneath crumpled buildings in central Mexico following the country’s deadliest earthquake in 32 years.
More than 50 survivors have been plucked from several disaster sites in Mexico City since Tuesday afternoon’s 7.1-magnitude quake, leading to impassioned choruses of “Yes we can!” from the first responders, volunteers and spectators gathered around the ruins.
At least 237 others have died and 1,900 were injured.
As the chance of survival diminished with each passing hour, officials vowed to continue with search-and-rescue efforts such as the one at a collapsed school in the south of the capital. At the site, navy-led rescuers have communicated with the 12-year-old, but were unable to dig her free.
Eleven other children were rescued from the Enrique Rebsamen School, where students are aged from 6 to 15. Twenty-one children and four adults there were killed.
Rescuers had earlier seen a hand protruding from the debris and the girl wiggled her fingers when asked if she was still alive, according to broadcaster Televisa.
But some 15 hours into the effort, Admiral Jose Luis Vergara said rescuers could not pinpoint the location of the girl, identified as Frida Sofia.
“There’s a girl alive in there, we’re pretty sure of that, but we still don’t know how to get to her,” Vergara told Televisa. “The hours that have passed complicate the chances of finding alive or in good health the person who might be trapped.”
As Vergara spoke, a human chain of hard-hatted rescuers removed a large chunk of concrete from the floodlit scene.
Rescuers periodically demanded silence from bystanders to allow them to hear any calls for help.
As with other disaster sites throughout central Mexico, officials have not employed heavy-lifting equipment for fear of crushing survivors. Some 52 buildings collapsed in Mexico City alone and more in the surrounding states.
Throughout the capital, crews were joined by volunteers and bystanders who used dogs, cameras, motion detectors and heat-seeking equipment to try to locate survivors.
Thousands of people have donated food, water, medicine, blankets and other basic items to help relief efforts. Companies provided free services and restaurants delivered food to shelters where thousands of people have sought refuge after their homes were damaged.
“Faced with the force of nature, we are all vulnerable and that is why we all unite when it comes to saving a life or helping a victim,” said President Enrique Pena Nieto, who has declared three days of mourning.
Pena Nieto said the priority was to re-establish basic services, conduct a census of damaged structures and rebuild.
The damage to many buildings, some relatively new, has raised questions over construction standards that were supposed to have improved in the wake of a 1985 quake.
At least nine Latin American countries have pledged rescue teams or technical assistance, as did the United States, Spain, Japan and Israel. Crews from Panama and El Salvador are already on site.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
