Desperation increases for relatives of missing in wake of Mexico quake
MEXICO CITY — As painstaking attempts to reach survivors in quakeravaged buildings across Mexico City stretched into a third day Thursday, desperation mounted among loved ones who earlier had high hopes for quick rescues and some complained they were being kept in the dark about search efforts.
And what many had clung to as the unlikely triumph of life over death was revealed to be a case of some high-profile misinformation: A top navy official announced there were no missing children at a collapsed Mexico City school where the purported plight of a girl trapped alive in the rubble had captivated people across the nation and abroad.
President Enrique Pena Nieto’s office raised the death toll from Tuesday’s magnitude 7.1 earthquake to 273, including 137 in the capital. In a statement, it said there were also 73 deaths in Morelos state, 43 in Puebla, 13 in the State of Mexico, six in Guerrero and one in Oaxaca.
More than 2,000 were injured and more than 50 people rescued in Mexico City alone, including two women and a man pulled alive from the wreckage of a building in the city’s center Wednesday night.
Relatives distraught
Still, frustration was growing as the rescue effort stretched into the third day.
Outside a collapsed office building in the trendy Roma Norte district, a list of those rescued was strung between two trees. Relatives of the missing compared it against their own list of those who were in the building when the quake struck — more than two dozen names — kept in a spiral notebook.
Maria del Carmen Fernandez’s nephew, Ivan Colin Fernandez, 27, worked as an accountant in the sevenstory building, which pancaked to the ground taking part of the building next door with it.
She said the last time the family got an update was late Wednesday, when officials said about 14 people were believed to be alive inside. Three people have been rescued from the building since the quake.
“They should keep us informed,” Fernandez said as her sister, the man’s mother, wept into her black fleece sweater. “Because I think what kills us most is the desperation of not knowing anything.”
Mistaken reports
Since early Wednesday, the eyes of the nation had been focused on the Enrique Rebsamen school in southern Mexico City, where rescuers told reporters a girl, identified only as Frida Sofia, had signaled she was alive deep in the rubble by wiggling her fingers in response to rescuers’ shouts.
The child became a symbol of hope amid a disaster that has shocked the country. But Thursday afternoon, Navy Assistant Secretary Enrique Sarmiento announced that while there were blood traces and other signs suggesting someone could be alive beneath the school, all its children had been accounted for.
“We have done an accounting with school officials and we are certain that all the children either died, unfortunately, are in hospitals or are safe at their homes,” Sarmiento said.
He said 11 children had been rescued and 19 had died, along with six adults, including a school employee whose body was recovered about 5 a.m. Thursday.
“We want to emphasize that we have no knowledge about the report that emerged with the name of a girl,” Sarmiento said. “We do not believe, we are sure, it was not a reality.”
In the middle of a nearby avenue Thursday evening, about 50 people attended a special Mass including aggrieved families and rescuers from the school site. Sobs broke out when the priest spoke the names of the dead, as cars passed by in both directions.
The ceremony ended with the release of white balloons that floated up.
“My brave princess,” one read, “we will always love you.”