Red Cross Responds to Central America Quake

Written by Cynthia Long, Managing Editor, Redcross.org, with news reports

January 14, 2001 — Rescuers continue to search for survivors under mountains of debris following a catastrophic earthquake that jolted El Salvador Saturday. The quake triggered a massive landslide that swallowed hundreds of hillside homes. The death toll is in the hundreds and rising and at least a thousand people are reported missing.

The small neighborhood of San Tecla outside El Salvador was virtually buried during the quake after a huge wave of mud and debris careened down a nearby hill. Using sticks, picks--even their hands-- families and neighbors desperately searched through the night for signs of life under the rubble. Hundreds of volunteers, soldiers and police formed human chains to remove earth from the site.

"It was like a wave of dirt that covered us," said Emilio Renderos, 60, a watchman employed in Las Colinas. "It was horrible." Some residents blamed recent house construction for the disaster, saying the stability of the hillside had been undermined.

Red Cross relief teams arrived on the scene to help dig through the rubble.

The temblor cracked buildings, blocked roads and knocked out radio stations and telephone service. A centuries-old cathedral 30 miles outside the capital collapsed during the rumbling and there were reports of a bus being buried by a landslide in Tecolouca, east of the capital. Debris-covered roadways were preventing rescuers from reaching some rural areas.

The earthquake, with a magnitude of between 7.4 and 7.9 on the Richter scale, was centered off the Salvadoran coast, about 65 miles southwest of San Miguel, according to the U.S. Geological Survey in Denver, Colo. The rumbling caused buildings to sway in areas as far away as Mexico City, about 600 miles to the northwest. The quake and hundreds of aftershocks also rocked the neighboring countries of Nicaragua and Guatemala.

Israel Zuniga, the Red Cross regional director in Guatemala City, said there were four confirmed dead in Guatemala and that the death toll was expected to rise significantly in hard-hit areas of El Salvador. He said rescue workers had been unable to reach all of the areas affected by the quake because several highways were blocked because of the landslide. The Guatemalan emergency management agency sent a helicopter early Sunday over the southwestern part of Guatemala and part of El Salvador to assess the damage while the U.S. Embassy in San Salvador was making helicopters available to help with flyovers, he said.

El Salvador President Francisco Flores has declared a national emergency and appealed for international assistance, especially from rescue teams. "The priority is in the southern part of San Tecla and the area of Berlin which has been greatly affected," Flores said. "We have heard there could be people still buried in this area due to the collapse of the cathedral." He also said that refugee centers had already been set up to deal with evacuees from affected areas.

The six worst affected departments are La Libertad, San Miguel, Santa Ana (where the church collapsed during Mass), La Paz, San Salvador and Che. National Red Cross Societies throughout the Americas and abroad have pledged assistance to the El Salvador Red Cross.

"This is the worst disaster to have hit the region since Hurricane Mitch two years ago and we will be making considerable resources available to support the relief efforts over the coming days," said Santiago Gil, head of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Americas Department.

The American Red Cross deployed four International Response Team members to El Salvador, experts in disaster relief response, and is providing financial assistance as well as disaster relief supplies, including blankets, water cans, hygiene kits and plastic sheeting.

Hundreds of Salvadoran Red Cross volunteers arrived immediately on the scene to provide relief. The Salvadoran Red Cross runs a first-aid service with 120 ambulances which operates permanently nationwide, making it possible to react quickly in the event of disaster. Following the devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch in October 1998, the Salvadoran Red Cross, supported by the International Federation and many other National Societies including the American Red Cross, was in the forefront of relief efforts, providing shelter and food, first aid, health services and clean water to displaced people.

Concerned family and friends in the United States may be unable to contact their loved ones. For inquiries about relatives living in El Salvador, Guatemala or Nicaragua who are foreign nationals or citizens of these countries, you are encouraged to keep calling as communications are being restored, try contacting friends or family members who live nearby, or contact your local Red Cross. For inquiries concerning U.S. citizens, people are encouraged to contact their local Red Cross or the U.S. Department of State, at (202) 647-5225.