A frantic search for signs of life in Mexico
Story of girl trapped at school appears to have been unfounded
Fearing a further collapse in the unstable rubble of a school destroyed by a magnitude-7.1 earthquake in Mexico, crews raced against time Thursday in a desperate search for victims. Volunteers and security officials surrounded the school and asked for quiet — raising their fists as a sign to stay silent — as searchers used sensitive microphones to hear anything moving beneath the rubble. News emerged Thursday that all children from the school were accounted for, but teams continued to search the site.
“They point out where the people are, and we go digging for them.”
Héctor Mendoza, leader of a citizen rescue organization
Rescue workers frantically searched for victims Thursday in the rubble of a school destroyed by a major earthquake two days earlier. But they had to operate carefully, fearing a further collapse of the unstable structure.
News emerged Thursday that there were no children still trapped in the school, though possibly one adult was.
Volunteers and security officials surrounding the school in the Coapa neighborhood asked for quiet — raising their fists as a sign to stay silent — as searchers used sensitive microphones to hear anything moving beneath the rubble. Rescue workers also brought in dogs and heat-sensing devices to find signs of life, however faint.
“They point out where the people are, and we go digging for them,” said Héctor Mendoza, 70, leader of Topos de Tlateloco, a citizen rescue organization. “Topos” means “moles” in Spanish and is named for the group’s expertise in burrowing through rubble to retrieve victims.
The team left as darkness fell on México City, along with heavy rain. Rescue workers at the elementary school brought in heavy equipment to dig — something the Topos, who use tools like crowbars and pick axes, prefer not to work with; Mendoza says that could cause fragile structures to fall.
Several rescue workers leaving the site earlier in the day commented that the building had collapsed “like a sandwich.” Desperate parents posted notes near the site asking for information.
The rescue started with exhilaration as teams pulled 11 survi- vors from the rubble. But it turned frustrating amid false reports of rescues — including cheers at the site as word spread the searchers had saved two girls.
Many in Mexico became fixed on a girl trapped in the rubble, Frida Sofía, believed to be 12, who said she was in contact with classmates and was taking shelter under a heavy table.
Hopes were dashed, however, as broadcaster Televisa reported the girl was not named “Frida” and all the students with that name at the Enrique Rébsamen school were accounted for.
It later emerged that no such girl existed, even though a Navy commander told cable channel El Financiero Wednesday night that rescue workers had been in contact with her barely an hour earlier.
The death toll from the school stands at 21 students and four adults.
Nationwide, Tuesday’s magni
tude-7.1 earthquake killed at least
230 and injured 2,000. It followed a magnitude-8.1 earthquake Sept. 7, which rocked the southern Mexican states of Chiapas and Oaxaca, killing nearly 100 people and leaving thousands homeless.
The quake hit on the 32nd anniversary of a 1985 earthquake that leveled parts of Mexico City and killed some 10,000 people.
Mendoza said Los Topos had just attended a commemoration for the 1985 earthquake and went straight to the school on police motorcycles.
Amid the tragedy, there have been signs of solidarity and outpourings of generosity. “Citizens take the reins,” read the headline in Thursday’s edition of Reforma.
At the collapsed school, so many supplies such as jugs of wa- ter, medicines and shovels and picks arrived that volunteers held up a banner, “Thank you, we’re saturated.”
Bystanders formed a human chain to load the supplies on trucks and taken them to other areas.
Volunteers also arrived in large numbers, many wearing hard hats and pushing wheelbarrows, hoping to help pick through the rubble.
“I rescue people at my work sometimes,” said Iván Ramos, a construction worker ready with ropes to help out. “But I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Mexico City is no stranger to earthquakes. Quakes often strike in southern Mexico, but cause buildings to shake in the nation’s capital, which was built on a former lakebed and parts of which have soft soil.
The city has experienced other powerful earthquakes, but Mendoza said the proximity of the epicenter to Mexico City — just 45 miles away this time — “was why it was so bad.”
“I rescue people at my work sometimes. But I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Iván Ramos, a construction worker