In Mexico’s earthquake, tragedies and miracles
More than 300 people were killed in last week’s earthquake that rocked Mexico-and behind the numeric toll are hundreds more poignant stories that survivors will always remember. Here is a collection of accounts from the hard-hit capital Mexico City:
A sister’s love
“We’re here, the whole family. We will not move until we have you with us,” Karina Ganoa cried out through a megaphone. The young woman clung to the hope that her brother Erick might still be alive-even after he was buried under the rubble of an office building in the city’s Roma district. “Your wife is fine! Your parents are fine! Your siblings-you know that I love you,” she shouted, her desperate message chilling viewers of the channel ForoTV as it was broadcast throughout Mexico. But tragically, her 35-year-old brother was found dead Thursday, Mexican media reported. Arms raised, rescuers held a minute of silence in his honor.
A final embrace
The lifeless bodies of Gabriel Morales and his wife Agueda Mendoza were found locked in an embrace, said their nephew Juan Carlos Williams, speaking on the day of their funeral. Married for 23 years, the pair in their fifties had an 18year-old daughter. They had met while working for a state-owned enterprise, he as a topographical engineer and she as a lawyer. “They stayed together, united,” the young man said. “That’s what we’ll remember.”
Hope, then mourning
The sons of Maria Ortiz lived three days of anguish peppered with moments of hope. Their 57-year-old mother, a housekeeper, was trapped in the rubble of an elegant yet dilapidated building in the chic Condesa neighborhood. For long hours, they hoped she had survived. “She tried to go down but missed a few steps to reach the hallway before everything collapsed,” said Leobardo Lopez Ortiz, 36, during his mother’s wake over the weekend.
When they learned the building had fallen, the sons along with uncles and cousins left their neighborhood further east in the hope they could rescue her, working through the rubble alongside military officers. “Virtually all the steps of the staircase fell on her,” said the eldest son Richard, 38. Her lifeless body was finally found Friday. Despite the pain, Richard said he was trying to stay calm: “I want to believe that under the weight, she died on the spot.” —AFP