Volunteer Efforts Strengthen After Disastrous Mexico City Earthquake Christopher Sherman, Peter Orsi, and Mark Stevenson - The Associated Press
go to original September 20, 2017

Panic on the streets of Mexico City as a deadly earthquake rocks the region (Euronews)

Update: How You Can Help Central Mexico Earthquake Victims (Care2)

Residents looking for their relatives may call emergency help lines in Mexico City at 011-52-55-56-58-1111 or 011-52-55-56-83-2222

Panic on the streets of Mexico City as a deadly earthquake rocks the region (Euronews) Police, firefighters, and ordinary Mexicans dug frantically through the rubble of collapsed schools, homes, and apartment buildings early Wednesday, looking for survivors of Mexico's deadliest earthquake in decades as the number of confirmed fatalities stood at least 217.

Adding poignancy and a touch of the surreal, Tuesday's magnitude-7.1 quake struck on the 32nd anniversary of the 1985 earthquake that killed thousands. Just hours earlier, people around Mexico had held earthquake drills to mark the date.



One of the most desperate rescue efforts was at a primary and secondary school in southern Mexico City, where a wing of the three-story building collapsed into a massive pancake of concrete slabs. Journalists saw rescuers pull at least two small bodies from the rubble, covered in sheets.

Volunteer rescue worker Dr. Pedro Serrano managed to crawl into the crevices of the tottering pile of rubble that had been Escuela Enrique Rebsamen. He made it into a classroom, but found all of its occupants dead.

"We can hear small noises, but we don't know if they're coming from above or below, from the walls above [crumbling], or someone below calling for help," he said.

A mix of neighborhood volunteers, police, and firefighters used trained dogs and their bare hands to search through the school's ruins. The crowd of anxious parents outside the gates shared reports that two families had received WhatsApp messages from girls trapped inside, but that could not be confirmed.

Read the rest at The Christian Science Monitor

Related: Volunteers Create Giant Human Chain Spanning Four Blocks to Rescue Trapped Victims (Independent)

Related: Hushed Crews Listen for Survivors After Mexico Earthquake Toll Tops 200 (Bloomberg)

Related: Mexico Earthquake: Praise for Those Who Raced to Help Others (BBC)

Related: Fears Thousands Are Left Homeless By Mexico Quake as Rescues Go On (Sky News)

Related: Trump Says US Will Be There for Mexico Following Earthquake (Epoch Times)

Related: UN Stands Ready to Assist Following Deadly Earthquake in Mexico (Just Earth News)

Related: Israel Sends Aid to Mexico After Devastating Earthquake (Israel21c)

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