Page 11 - ARUBA TODAY

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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 20 March 2018

6 months after Mexico quake some still camp outside homes

By CHRIS SHERMAN candy out of her ground
REBECCA BLACKWELL floor apartment before the
Associated Press earthquake. Others go off
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Un- to jobs during the day while
der a patchwork shelter a few of the building’s old-
of overlapping tarps and er women look after the
repurposed vinyl advertise- others’ young children.
ments, several dozen resi- Most everyone has a cough
dents of 18 Independence and especially the children
Street pack cheek by jowl are often battling colds,
into donated tents in the said resident Emma Alvarez
street near their building, Lopez, who helps look after
which was damaged in the children.
Sept. 19 earthquake. Her own granddaughter
Six months after the tem- eventually had to leave
blor, improvised camps the camp after contracting
like this one erected by pneumonia.
displaced residents are “If we go, we’ll practically
among the most visible be abandoning the build-
signs that not everyone has ing,” Alvarez said. “We
moved on from the earth- have to somehow pressure
quake that killed 228 peo- the government to support
ple in Mexico City and 141 us.”
more elsewhere. For now, they await an offi-
Mexico City Reconstruc- cial determination from the
tion Commissioner Edgar city about their building.
Oswaldo Tungui Rodriguez Most believe it will need to
said there are 27 such In this March 14, 2018 photo, members of the Marquez family talk outside the temporary shelter be torn down.
camps around the capi- where seven children and four adults from the family are living in a park, six months after an earth- Tungui, the reconstruction
quake damaged the Multifamiliares Tlalpan housing complex, toppling one building, killing nine
tal, but denied that people people, and leaving around 300 families in housing limbo waiting for the rest of the buildings to be commissioner, said in writ-
were living in any of them. either repaired or condemned, in Mexico City. ten responses to questions
Rather, he said, quake vic- (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell) that city officials so far
tims had just posted guards have determined what to
to watch over their prop- guez's apartment has sunk weeks and then to months, each month for the first do with 757 structures out
erty. since the earthquake. The sentiments shifted. three months from the of 911 on a list of damaged
Camps visited by Associat- ceiling sags and plaster has People have stolen the government. The idea buildings compiled by an
ed Press journalists offered fallen from the walls. Afraid gas tanks they use to heat was that they would rent emergency committee.
a different reality. to use the bathroom there, food. Cars have come apartments elsewhere. But Some will be demolished,
Maria Patricia Rodriguez she heats water on a gas close to driving through residents say that was not others repaired or rein-
Gonzalez has been living burner under the tarps and the camp. Some neighbors enough to rent apartments forced. So far the city has
under tarps on the sidewalk manages a sort of bath in- have stopped speaking to in their neighborhood and demolished 28 buildings
near the Independence side a portable toilet on the them, others hurl insults. they fear that without their and is currently working on
Street building with her sidewalk. “It makes us sad that peo- presence, looters will clear 15 others, he said.
13-year-old son and 27- At first, Rodriguez and other ple insult us without know- out their possessions. Many The city announced last
year old daughter for the residents say, there was a lot ing the reality we are living,” residents had lived in the week that it had taken
past six months. of solidarity in the neighbor- Rodriguez said. “We’re not building’s 37 units for more ownership of a lot where an
The residents are still al- hood. Some neighbors let here because we want to than 30 years. office building collapsed,
lowed to enter the build- them use their bathrooms be. We’re here out of ne- Rodriguez tries to make killing 49 people. It plans
ing, but nobody risks stay- and shared food after the cessity.” ends meet by selling candy to convert it into a memo-
ing there. magnitude 7.1 quake. Displaced residents re- on a table at the entrance rial to victims of the earth-
The bedroom floor in Rodri- But as the days turned to ceived 3,000 pesos ($160) to her camp. She had sold quake.
ISIS-linked suspect arrested in Colombia showed hate online

MADRID (AP) — Spanish po- toward the United States, conspiracy charges. and the Islamic state, two for March 6 but was later
lice say the man suspected a country where he had On instant messaging app of the Spanish investigators rescheduled for March 13.
of plotting an ISIS-inspired lived and was allegedly try- Telegram, the 45-year-old following the case told The They spoke anonymously
attack in Colombia ap- ing to get to. A Colombian Cuban man said that he Associated Press. out of security concerns.
peared on their radar for judge jailed Raul Gutierrez would commit a suicide at- The agents said the alleged Gutierrez was arrested on
his hate-filled messages last week on terrorism and tack in the name of God attack was initially planned March 12.q