Teacher in escape as decimates
MEXICAN TOWN RAVAGED
After the devastation, the community in the town has come together to gather and distribute supplies to those in need IT was the worst earthquake to hit southern Mexico in decades and Karina Santiago was at the heart of it as buildings collapsed around her.
The town she grew up in has been destroyed and will take years to rebuild after at least 37 residents died, thousands of families left homeless, while all are struggling to cope.
Now back in Newcastle, caring Karina is doing all she can to help the community she was visiting when the deadly earthquake struck.
And her grandmother, father and brother are amongst the distraught town’s residents now living in tents.
“I was terrified, our house had collapsed, it was destroyed,” said Karina, 31, who moved to Jesmond Vale, Newcastle, four years ago.
“I walked into the street and saw the neighbours crying.
“My dad was lucky he survived as he was sitting in the garden when the earthquake struck.
“My brother managed to run out of the house. It collapsed and they couldn’t see anything because of the dust from the houses collapsing around them.”
Karina, who sells jewellery at the Quayside Market and teaches, arrived in Juchitan on September 6 to celebrate her father’s 72nd birthday. But a day later, her nightmare began.
“I was staying at my grandmother’s house when the earthquake started at 11.50pm on September 7. My family has lived in the town for generations.
“The house was shaking and I was disorientated. My grandmother and I didn’t know where to go as the house was falling apart around us.
“Glass and windows were breaking and bricks were falling from the walls. We couldn’t get out of the house because things were falling.
“I thought the earthquake was going to stop but it went on and on. It was the strongest earthquake to hit in decades.
“My dad’s house is a block away. I was worried for my father and my brother. I feared for their lives and I was crying.
“When the earthquake finished I saw my brother running to my grandmother’s house and he told me our house had collapsed, it was destroyed.”
Karina added: “Everything was destroyed, the houses, pharmacy, hospital, schools, the main market, bakers, shops, the council building, the bank, it was all destroyed.
“After the earthquake there have been more than 8,000 aftershocks so it is not safe to stay in the houses.
“My father, brother and grandmoth-