Quake rescuers toil at school after girl pulled from debris
MEXICO: Mexican rescuers yesterday laboured for a second night amid the rubble to save possible survivors of the country’s most lethal earthquake in a generation, including a girl trapped under a school in Mexico City, as the death toll exceeded 230.
Television stations broadcast live the painstaking, hours-long attempt to rescue the girl after crews at the school in the south of the city reported seeing her hand move. They threaded a hose through debris to get her water.
The girl’s name was not made public, but her family waited in anguish nearby.
Rescuers moved slowly, erecting makeshift wooden scaffolding to prevent rubble from crumbling further and seeking a path to the child through the unstable ruins. They implored bystanders to be quiet to better hear calls for help.
It was part of the careful search for dozens of victims feared buried beneath the Enrique Rebsamen school, where officials reported 21 children and four adults dead after Tuesday’s quake. Hundreds of buildings were destroyed.
‘‘We have a lot of hope that some will still be rescued,’’ said David Porras, one of scores of volunteers helping the search at the school for children aged 3 to 14.
‘‘But we’re slow, like turtles,’’ he said.
By morning, the workers said a teacher and two students had sent text messages from within the rubble. Parents clung to hope that their children were alive.
The magnitude 7.1 quake, which killed at least 93 people in the capital, struck 32 years to the day after a 1985 earthquake that killed thousands. Mexico is also still reeling from a powerful tremor that killed nearly 100 people in the south of the country less than two weeks ago.
Officials told bystanders to move back from the Plaza Condesa building which houses a wellknown concert hall frequented by famous international acts and a popular bar in the upscale Condesa neighbourhood.
The order sparked fears the massive building could collapse, just like a nearby apartment block where emergency crews spent the day sifting though rubble.
Throughout the capital, crews were joined by volunteers and bystanders who used dogs, cameras, motion detectors and heat-seeking equipment to detect victims who may still be alive.
Reinforcements began to arrive from countries including Panama, Israel and Chile, local media reported.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) said it was sending a Disaster Assistance Response Team to help, at the request of the Mexican government.
‘‘The United States remains committed to helping our neighbours during this difficult time,’’ the statement said.
US President Donald Trump spoke at length with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, the White House said. Trump had tweeted: ‘‘God bless the people of Mexico City. We are with you and will be there for you.’’
Nieto declared three days of mourning.
‘‘The priority continues to be rescuing people from collapsed buildings and taking care of the injured. Every minute counts.’’
Nieto has been unusually visible since the two earthquakes, a sign of the political sensitivity of disaster relief less than a year before the next presidential election. – Reuters