Monday 12 January 2009, San José, Costa
Rica
Earthquake Rescue
Efforts Continue, Unlikely More
Survivors Will Be Found
40.000 Still
Without Running Water
Rescuer
Workers Menaced By
Mudslides After Quake
Percentage of
Permit-Less
Constructions Down in
Guanacaste
Violence Will Increase
Due To Economic Crisis
China's Huawei Awarded
3G Phone Deal
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Earthquake Rescue
Efforts Continue,
Unlikely More Survivors
Will Be Found
With the help of US and
Colombian soldiers, the
Cruz Roja Costarricense
(Costa Rican Red Cross)
and hundreds of
volunteers have been
busy searching and
recovering bodies from
the area struck by
Thursday's killer
earthquake.
Rescue workers have had
to endure scenes like
the find of the body of
Idania Pérez Borges
hugging her two children
trapped under the mud.
Or the hand of Rafael
Ángel Herrera Esquivel
reaching out from under
the dirt, sticking out
of the window of a
vehicle, with the
wedding ring with the
name of his wife.
The bodies recovered are
being sent to a
temporary morgue set up
in a school by the
Organismo de
Investigación Judicial (OIJ).
The desperation of the
families of the 34 on
the OIJ list of those
still missing continues.
Inside Costa Rica has
recevied a number of
calls from family
members in the United
States wanting to know
the situation and trying
to get in contact with a
loved one.
"It will be a miracle if
anyone is found alive",
said Jorge Rojas,
director of the OIJ.
Rojas talked about the
possibility that a
pocket of air may keep
alive someone buried
under the mud and
debris, cautioning that
any such air pocket
would have been
exhausted by now and the
possibility of finding a
survivor was minimal.
Rojas added that the
worst is not being able
to get to all of the
people trapped under the
tons of mud and dirt.
Daniel Gallardo,
president of the
Comisión Nacional de
Emergencias (CNE),
expressed the same
sentiments, adding that
in some cases the dirt
and mud is more than 150
metres deep and people
trapped under tons of
earth making it
impossible to reach
them.
Gallardo added that
rescue operations will
not cease until every
last effort has been
made to recover all the
bodies and workers will
be working from the
first rays of sunlight
to the last.
The CNE head also
thanked the help
received from the US and
Colombian military for
the five helicopters
used in the rescue
efforts as the local
helicopters alone could
not have done the job.
Captain Camilo Gómez of
the Colombian military
said that he has orders
from the Colombian
government to stay in
the area under the
emergency is over and
they (Colombian
military) are no longer
needed.
Names and Fotos Of
The Known Dead
OIJ list of persons
reported missing as of
10pm Sunday
Norlan Antonio Flores
Rafael Murillo Sibaja
Evelyn Badilla Alvarado
Milady Badilla Badilla
Michael Jiménez Badilla
Alexis Rojas Rodríguez
Mario Morales Rodríguez
Elizabeth Núñez González
Normal Molton (Canada)
Rafael Vargas Cambronero
Hilda Ruiz Rodríguez
Javier Arce Solano
Teodoro Sabalto González
Raquel Urbina
Manuel Arce Jiménez
Grace Chacón Rojas
Joselyn Rojas Rodríguez
Heidy Rodríguez Montero
Evelyn Isabel Rodríguez
Montero
Karen López Fernández
José Balderomar Barrios
Ericka María Ramírez
Ramírez
Etelgive Villegas Araya
Susana González Herrera
Sebastián Coronado
Vargas
Oswaldo León Delgado
Jonathan José Bolaños
Sosa
José Manuel Herrera
Montero
Jorge Álvarez Montero
Yolanda Román
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