Mudslide dead climbs to 83 in Guatemala
Hundreds still missing, newborns among slain
SANTA CATARINA PINULA: At least 83 people were killed when massive mudslides buried scores of homes on the outskirts of Guatemala’s capital city, officials said, as the confirmed dead continued to climb.
An estimated 300 people were still missing, two days after the landslides suddenly hit, raising the prospect that the number of people who perished in the disaster could rise much higher.
Julio Sanchez, a spokesman for firefighters who are leading the painstaking search for survivors, told reporters that several young children, including newborn babies, were among the dead in Santa Catarina Pinula.
On Thursday night, following heavy rain, waterlogged earth and debris tore through the village of El Cambray II, in the municipality of Santa Catarina Pinula, destroying or damaging 125 homes.
At dawn on Saturday, rescue workers, police, soldiers and volunteers began a second day of clawing away at the debris with picks and shovels.
Two firefighters were injured later in the day when a wall collapsed as they were trying to extract a body from the rubble.
Nearby, relatives of the missing checked in at a makeshift morgue set up next to the buried homes.
Municipal authorities had urged the community, about 15km east of the capital Guatemala City, to relocate several times, most recently in November of last year. Many families have refused, saying that they have nowhere to go.
“We can’t live here any more,” Carlos Hernandez, an electrician who survived the landslide, lamented as he stepped between rescuers with his few remaining belongings on his shoulder.
The destruction was and decisive.
“I went on an errand for my mother and when I returned there was nothing,” Carlos Ac, 17, said. He was still waiting for word about his missing mother and seven siblings.
In gray denim trousers and a black coat — now the only clothes he has — Carlos said his family had come from the city of Quetzaltenango, approximately 200km to the west of the capital, to sell tortillas.
Alex Lopez, 44, called his ex-wife and daughters as soon as he heard of the landslide. “It rang. But there was no answer,” said.
On Saturday he was waiting for the body of his ex-wife and had already been given those of his two daughters, aged 21 and
sudden 22, and his 2-year-old grandson. Some authorities have said hundreds remain missing. Families have reported receiving text messages from people they believed to still be trapped.
The impact of the heavy rain was exacerbated by a nearby river, officials said.
A wall of mud stopped everyday life mid-text, mid-sentence and mid-dream for the family of Manuel Sandoval and Maritza Aquino.
A normal Thursday night, daughter-inlaw Tanya Garcia had made her regular evening call to her mother. She worried about her blood pressure. Granddaughter Melany Sandoval was texting a friend in another state in Guatemala when suddenly the conversation stopped.
In all, seven family members are now dead and four still missing from the canyon home that Sandoval built 16 years ago and where he, wife Maritza, three sons and their families lived.
Pablo Sandoval, the only surviving brother, was at work during the slide and said he heard from a friend that there had been some kind of tragedy in his neighbourhood. When he arrived home, he saw “nothing but dirt”. It was his job to identify and retrieve the bodies. A large man, he handed out bear hugs and shared tears with scores of people who streamed through a house loaned for the wake with an openair court on the town square, with rooms enough for seven caskets.
“We were a family of workers, fighters, from my parents down to the youngest,’’ he said. “Very caring. The best.’’
As time went on, there was less hope of finding survivors. “Only a miracle can save them,’’ said rescue worker Ines de Leon.
Dozens of families like the Sandovals waited outside a makeshift morgue as more bodies were brought in, hoping to find their loved ones.
Sandra Escobar said her mother was inside viewing bodies in search of family members, including aunts, uncles, cousins and nephews.
In all, she said there were 20 family members they hadn’t heard from since the mudslide.
Santa Catarina, a municipality in the county of Guatemala and set right next to the city limits, is a middle-class suburb of government workers, salesmen, taxi drivers and cooks.
By Saturday night the residents were out in the town square in front of the looming white church with powder-blue cupulas, where many of the Masses for the dead would be held. The central kiosk with the red tile roof was piled high with donations, milk, juice boxes, clothing, toilet paper and rice. People cried in the square and at the Sandoval wake, where volunteers cooked food.