Mexico focuses on 10 buildings in search for quake survivors, 273 dead
September 22, 2017 by admin
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MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Rescuers swarmed over rubble with shovels and picks on Thursday in a torturous search for survivors two days after Mexico’s deadliest earthquake in a generation, while politicians sought to outdo each other in donating party funds to help victims.
As the arduous search through mountains of debris continued, signs of exhaustion crept in following Tuesday’s 7.1 magnitude quake that killed at least 282 people, with growing discontent and rumors swirling online.
Mexico’s Navy apologized for communicating incorrect information in a story that captivated the nation of a fictitious schoolgirl, supposedly trapped under a collapsed school in Mexico City and dubbed Frida Sofia by local media. The high-profile televised blunder led to an outpouring of anger.
Officials also sought to quash rumors that the military would be bulldozing razed buildings deemed unlikely to harbor survivors.
“We won’t suspend the search and rescue mission we’ve been given until we find the last of the survivors,” army chief Salvador Cienfuegos said on Twitter.
In hard-hit Mexico City, rescue efforts focused on 10 collapsed buildings where people may still be alive. Some 52 buildings collapsed in the capital alone, with more in the surrounding states. Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said 50 people were missing.
Working without pause since the massive quake, first responders and volunteers have saved 60 survivors from central Mexico City to poor neighborhoods far to the south.
Luis Manuel Carrillo Nunez, 14, said he was in a yoga class at the Enrique Rebsamen private school on Tuesday when he heard people yell, “It’s shaking!”
He ran to escape the building as it began collapsing. But some classmates never made it out.
“It’s hard to know that you’re not going to see again the friends that you loved. I‘m really traumatized,” he said.
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The full scale of damage has not been calculated, with buildings across the city of 20 million people badly cracked.
Citigroup’s Mexican unit Citibanamex told clients it was lowering its 2017 economic growth forecast to 1.9 percent from 2.0 percent due to the earthquake.
POLITICAL ONE-UPMANSHIP
The quake became more politicized on Thursday, with the country’s deeply unpopular parties engaging in a game of one-upmanship to donate ever-higher percentages of their federal funds to help those afflicted.
Disaster relief is sensitive for politicians in Mexico after the government’s widely panned response to the 1985 quake caused upheaval, which some credited with weakening the one-party rule of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
In a statement, the PRI said it would be donating 258 million pesos ($14.42 million), or 25 percent of its annual federal funding, to help those afflicted.
Meanwhile, the national human rights commission proposed changing the Mexican constitution to divert about 30 percent of political parties’ funding to a federal disaster fund.
Calls for political penny-pinching gained momentum on social media following a powerful quake two weeks ago that killed nearly 100 people in the south of the country.
After that tremor, current leftist presidential frontrunner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador suggested donating 20 percent of his party’s federal campaign funds for victims.
On Thursday, though, after news of the PRI plans broke, Lopez Obrador upped the ante, proposing donating 50 percent of his National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) party’s 2018 federal funding to support victims.
Lorenzo Cordova, the head of the national electoral institute, said in a video posted to Twitter the body had no problem with parties choosing to divert funds to the needy.
ANGER AT NAVY AND MEDIA
After more than a day of wall-to-wall television coverage of the search for a girl in the rubble of the Enrique Rebsamen school, the Navy changed its version of events and said all pupils were now accounted for.
Since Wednesday, the Navy said a schoolgirl was trapped in the rubble, prompting 30-hours of live coverage on top broadcaster Televisa of the rescue effort.
The search for “Frida Sofia,” captured hearts in a nation desperate for good news. As it became apparent no child was trapped, there was an outpouring of anger on social media directed at broadcaster Televisa and the Navy for raising hopes.
At one point a senior Navy official said he had no idea where the story of the girl had come from, but he later emitted a rare military apology accepting the Navy had been the source of the information, based, he said, on rescuers’ reports.
Eleven children were rescued from the rubble of the school, where students are aged roughly 6 to 15, the Navy said, adding that 19 children and six adults there were killed.
The body of a woman was pulled out on Thursday morning.
The Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed five nationals were trapped in a collapsed clothing factory in the Obrera neighborhood. Volunteers cutting through debris at the factory, which had been combed by rescue dogs, heard signs of life from a car.
Rescue worker Amaury Perez said, “We shouted, ‘If you are inside the vehicle, please knock three times.’ He knocked three times.”
For a graphic on earthquake location, click: here
Reporting by Adriana Barrera and Daniel Trotta; Additional reporting by Julia Love, Stefanie Eschenbacher and Veronica Gomez; Editing by Cynthia Osterman, James Dalgleish and Michael Perry
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Hurricane Maria eyes next target as Puerto Rico surveys damage — live updates
September 22, 2017 by admin
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Hurricane Maria lashed the northeast coast of the Dominican Republic on Thursday after leaving a path of destruction in Puerto Rico.
Maria left millions of people in Puerto Rico facing the dispiriting prospect of weeks and perhaps months without electricity.
The Category 3 storm was blamed for at least 19 deaths. Maria’s next potential target was the Turks and Caicos Islands, which are still recovering from Hurricane Irma.
On Wednesday, Maria barreled through Puerto Rico from end to end, knocking out all the power. It was the strongest hurricane to hit the U.S. commonwealth in more than 80 years. Officials said recovery will take months.
A look at Hurricane Maria as it heads toward the Turks and Caicos islands on Thu., Sept. 21, 2017.
CBS News’ David Begnaud reports that in the coastal city of Cantano, residents forged through flooded streets, heading to the only open grocery store. Only five were allowed in at a time to avoid chaos.
Begnaud said in the small town of Toa Baja, hundreds of residents were rescued by the National Guard, packed into trucks while scores of others waded through two feet of water, carrying what’s left of their possessions.
Hurricane Maria
Powerful hurricane tore through the Caribbean and made a direct hit on Puerto Rico
Follow along below for live updates on the storm. All times are Eastern unless otherwise noted.
10 p.m.: Trump speaks with Puerto Rico governor
The White House says President Trump spoke with the governors of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Mr. Trump said earlier Thursday that Puerto Rico was “absolutely obliterated” and the Virgin Islands were “flattened” by recent hurricanes Irma and Maria.
The entire island of Puerto Rico was left without power after Maria knocked out its already weakened electrical grid.
Mr. Trump said FEMA and other emergency responders are helping both U.S. territories begin the recovery process.
He says he’ll visit Puerto Rico.
8:30 p.m.: Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor eagerly awaits news of her family in Puerto Rico
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, whose family is from Puerto Rico, says she hasn’t yet heard from half her family after Hurricane Maria walloped the island.
Sotomayor, the high court’s first Hispanic justice, was speaking Thursday at an event at the Newseum in Washington. She said Puerto Rico “is suffering a great tragedy right now.”
Sotomayor says that she and her family in the United States are “exceedingly concerned.” She asked for the crowd’s prayers for Puerto Rico but also the other islands, Texas and Florida that have been recently impacted by hurricanes.
Sotomayor’s parents immigrated to the United States from Puerto Rico before she was born. Sotomayor grew up in New York.
8 p.m.: Hurricane Maria’s large eye gradually approaching Turks and Caicos Islands
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) released its latest advisory tonight to say that Hurricane Maria is gradually nearing the Turks and Caicos Islands with sustained winds of 125 mph — a slight uptick from the 120 mph winds earlier in the night.
Maria remains a Category 3 hurricane.
A look at Hurricane Maria’s projected path as seen from the National Hurricane Center’s 8 p.m. advisory on Thu., Sept. 21, 2017.
Maria is moving toward the northwest near 9 mph, NHC says, and the eye will continue to pass offshore of the northern coast of the Dominican Republic this evening, and then move near or just east of the Turks and Caicos Islands and southeastern Bahamas later tonight and on Friday.
NHC says an additional 4 to 8 inches of rain is expected in Puerto Rico and an isolated maximum storm total totaling 40 inches.
Tropical storm conditions are possible in the central Bahamas beginning late Friday.
6:40 p.m.: Residents should expect prospect of weeks without power or longer
A day after Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico, flooding towns, crushing homes and killing at least two people, millions of people on the island faced the dispiriting prospect of weeks and perhaps months without electricity.
The storm knocked out the entire grid across the U.S. territory of 3.4 million, leaving many without power to light their homes, cook, pump water or run fans, air conditioners or refrigerators. Now many are hunting for gas canisters for cooking, collecting rainwater or steeling themselves mentally for the hardships to come in the tropical heat. Some are even contemplating leaving the island.
“You cannot live here without power,” said Hector Llanos, a 78-year-old retired New York police officer who planned to go back to the U.S. mainland on Saturday to live there temporarily.
Like many Puerto Ricans, Llanos does not have a generator or gas stove. “The only thing I have is a flashlight,” he said, shaking his head.
5:50 p.m.: Power industry executive refuses to speculate on when power will be restored in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico’s government hired 56 small contractors to clear trees and put up new power lines and poles and will be sending tanker trucks to supply neighborhoods as they run out of water. The entire island was declared federal disaster zones.
Mike Hyland, senior vice president of engineering services for the American Public Power Association, a utility industry group that is sending repair crews into the Caribbean, refused to speculate on how long it would take to restore power.
“Let’s see what the facts tell us by the end of the weekend,” he said. But he acknowledged: “This is going to be a tall lift.”
The storm knocked out the entire grid across the U.S. territory of 3.4 million, leaving many without power to light their homes, cook, pump water or run fans, air conditioners or refrigerators.
5:15 p.m.: Flash flood warnings continue in portions of Puerto Rico due to persistent heavy rainfall
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) released its latest advisory to report that catastrophic flooding is occurring in Puerto Rico — and everyone on the island should continue to follow advice from local officials to avoid life-threatening flooding conditions.
Hurricane Maria is moving northwest near 9 mph with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph.
NHC says tropical storm conditions begin to spread over the Turks and Caicos Islands. Maria’s eye will continue to pass offshore of the northern coast of the Dominican Republic this evening and then move near or just east of the Turks and Caicos Islands and southeastern Bahamas tonight and Friday.
Swells from Hurricane Maria are expected to begin reaching the coast of the southeastern United States on Friday which could cause dangerous surf and life-threatening rip currents along the coast for several days even though Maria is forecast to stay well offshore in the western Atlantic Ocean, NHC says.
4:03 p.m.: Puerto Rico surveys extent of Maria’s wrath
Rescuers fanned out to reach stunned victims Thursday after Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico, knocking out electricity to the entire island and triggering landslides and floods.
The extent of the damage is unknown given that dozens of municipalities remained isolated and without communication after Maria hit the island Wednesday morning as a Category 4 storm with 155 mph winds, the strongest hurricane to hit Puerto Rico in over 80 years.
Uprooted trees and widespread flooding blocked many highways and streets across the island of 3.4 million residents, creating a maze that forced drivers to go against traffic and past police cars that used loudspeakers to warn people they must respect a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew imposed by the governor to ensure everyone’s safety. People resorted to rafts and kayaks to get around because flooding made many roads remained impassable.
“This is going to be a historic event for Puerto Rico,” said Abner Gomez, the island’s emergency management director.
Damaged homes are seen in the La Perla neighborhood the day after Hurricane Maria made landfall on Sept. 21, 2017, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
2:58 p.m.: 1 dead, 3 rescued from boat off Puerto Rico
The U.S. Coast Guard says a woman and two children were rescued from a boat that went missing off Puerto Rico during Hurricane Maria, but a man died aboard the vessel.
The Coast Guard in Miami said in a statement that a British Royal Navy helicopter hoisted three people Thursday from the capsized vessel. It had sent a distress call Wednesday saying it was disabled and adrift in seas with 20-foot waves and 100 mph winds near Vieques, Puerto Rico.
The Coast Guard says the dead man’s body was not retrieved and that the boat had capsized.
The search included an HC-130 search plane, a fast response cutter, the USS Kearsarge amphibious assault ship and Navy helicopters.
The names of those on the vessel were not released.
2:24 p.m.: Maria strengthens slightly
Hurricane Maria has strengthened slightly as it nears the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami says data from reconnaissance aircraft showed maximum sustained wind speed increasing Thursday to 120 mph, up slightly from 115 mph. It remains a Category 3 hurricane.
Hurricane conditions are expected to begin in the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas late Thursday or early Friday.
Tropical storm conditions are possible in the central Bahamas beginning late Friday.
A map shows the probable path for Hurricane Maria as of 2 p.m. ET on Sept. 21, 2017. The M stands for “major hurricane.” The red areas represent hurricane warnings. The blue areas represent tropical storm warnings. The yellow areas represent tropical storm watches.
1:15 p.m.: Severe flooding in Dominica after Maria’s direct hit
Dominica Tourism Minister Robert Tonge said his badly damaged country’s capital of Roseau still has severe flooding three days after Hurricane Maria made landfall in the eastern Caribbean island and there’s heavy damage throughout the city.
The hospital and a community center both lost roofs. One of two airports serving the country is inoperable while the other is expected to be operational in the coming days. An estimated 95 percent of the roofs were blown off in some towns, including Mahaut and Portsmouth.
There are at least nine communities that no one has any information about because they’re cut off and most communications are down in the country.
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said more than 15 people are dead and 20 remain missing after Maria’s direct hit.
Homes damaged by Hurricane Maria are seen in this aerial photo over the island of Dominica on Sept. 19, 2017.
Skerrit cried as he spoke to a reporter on the nearby island of Antigua.
He said it was a miracle that the death toll was not in the hundreds.
The center of the Category 5 storm hit Dominica with massive force late Monday night and early Tuesday, destroying hundreds of homes and cutting off the mountainous island’s communication systems and shutting its airport.
Skerrit says Dominica “is going to need all the help the world has to offer.”
12:55 p.m.: At least 15 dead on Dominica
Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit says at least 15 people are dead and 20 missing on the Caribbean island after Hurricane Maria.
The death toll on the hard-hit island was seven before Skerrit’s announcement Thursday.
12:38 p.m.: Maria heading toward Turks and Caicos Islands
Hurricane Maria was heading toward the Turks and Caicos Islands Thursday morning, the National Hurricane Center said.
Forecasters expected tropical storm conditions to begin on the islands and in the southeastern Bahamas later Thursday. Hurricane conditions were expected there Thursday night or early Friday.
At 11 a.m., Maria remained a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph. Its eye was located about 105 miles east-northeast of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, and about 155 miles southeast of Grand Turk Island in the Turks and Caicos.
The major hurricane was moving northwest at 9 mph.
A map shows the probable path for Hurricane Maria as of 11 a.m. ET on Sept. 21, 2017. The M stands for “major hurricane.” The red areas represent hurricane warnings. The blue areas represent tropical storm warnings. The yellow areas represent tropical storm watches.
12:11 p.m.: Severe flood threat in Puerto Rico
Forecasters say a severe flood threat is continuing across Puerto Rico as Hurricane Maria’s outer rain bands pelt the island.
Senior Hurricane Specialist Mike Brennan at the National Hurricane Center says rains are expected to dump at least 4-8 inches of additional rain and up to 35 inches in isolated spots on the island.
“We’re still seeing heavy rainfall occurring over Puerto Rico,” Brennan said Thursday via social media from the Miami-based center. “We could see 4-8 inches of additional rainfall through Saturday that will exacerbate the ongoing flash-flooding situation that’s occurring over that entire island.”
He warned Puerto Rico residents who are venturing out after the storm to avoid areas near already flood-swollen rivers and not to attempt to cross flooded highways and roads on foot or in vehicles because of the threat to personal safety.
Forecasters say the ongoing rains also raise the risk of life-threatening mudslides.
11:54 a.m.: Trump pledges to visit Puerto Rico
President Trump has pledged to visit Puerto Rico, which he said was “absolutely obliterated” by Hurricane Maria.
While the president was meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in New York, a reporter asked if he would visit the U.S. territory.
“Yes, I will,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Trump provided no immediate details about when he would visit the island.
The president went to Texas and Louisiana after they were hit by Hurricane Harvey, and he visited Florida after Hurricane Irma struck the state.
Mr. Trump and Poroshenko are in New York for the annual U.N. General Assembly.
8:46 a.m.: Trump approves disaster declaration for Puerto Rico
President Trump has approved a federal disaster declaration for Puerto Rico.
The White House announced Thursday morning that Mr. Trump approved the declaration on Wednesday, the same day Hurricane Maria made landfall on the U.S. territory.
The declaration makes federal funding available to Puerto Ricans affected by the storm, which has knocked out power across the entire island and caused flooding and landslides.
A man looks for valuables in the damaged house of a relative after the area was hit by Hurricane Maria in Guayama, Puerto Rico, Sept. 20, 2017.
8:33 a.m.: Maria remains major hurricane off Dominican Republic
Hurricane Maria remained a major storm as its eye was passing offshore of the northeastern coast of the Dominican Republic, the National Hurricane Center said.
At 8 a.m., Maria was still a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds near 115 mph. Its eye was located about 95 miles north-northwest of the resort city of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, and about 190 miles southeast of Grand Turk Island in the Turks and Caicos.
It was moving northwest at about 9 mph.
Forecasters said it was possible for Maria to gain more strength over the next day or so.
A map shows the probable path for Hurricane Maria as of 8 a.m. ET on Sept. 21, 2017. The M stands for “major hurricane.” The red areas represent hurricane warnings. The blue areas represent tropical storm warnings. The yellow areas represent tropical storm watches.
5:13 a.m.: Maria could get stronger before hitting Bahamas
In its 5 a.m. advisory, the National Hurricane Center said Hurricane Maria was centered about 70 miles north of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, and heading northwest at 9 mph.
The Center said the storm’s eye would continue to pass offshore of the northeastern coast of the Dominican Republic over the course of Thursday before moving toward the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas by Friday evening.
“Some strengthening is possible during the next day or so,” warned the advisory.
A chart provided by the National Hurricane Center shows the projected path of Hurricane Maria, with the storm centered 70 miles north of the eastern tip of the Dominican Republic at 5 a.m. Eastern, Sept. 21, 2017.
2:38 a.m.: Maria regains major hurricane status
The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Maria has regained its major hurricane status, rising to a Category 3 storm early Thursday.
An update from the Miami-based center says maximum sustained winds have increased to near 115 mph with higher gusts.
Maria’s fierce core was centered about 55 miles northeast of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. It will continue to move away from Puerto Rico during the next several hours, and then pass offshore of the northeast coast of the Dominican Republic early Thursday. Maria should then move near the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas tonight and Friday.
President Trump has declared a major disaster in the U.S. Virgin Islands after Hurricane Maria hit. Mr. Trump’s action early Thursday makes federal funding available to people on the island of St. Croix.
Wednesday, Sept. 20
11:18 p.m.: Trump tweets “Stay safe!” to Puerto Rico
President Trump again tweeted about Hurricane Maria, writing “we are with you and the people of Puerto Rico” to Gov. Ricardo Rossello.
Earlier Wednesday Rossello asked Mr. Trump to declare the island a disaster zone, a step that would open the way to federal aid.
11:11 p.m.: Maria moving away from Puerto Rico, but torrential rains continue
The National Hurricane Center said Maria is moving away Puerto Rico, but the island is still being slammed by torrential rains.
Maria is expected to bring 20 to 30 inches of rain through Saturday to Puerto Rico, the National Hurricane Center said. Strong gusty winds are still occurring over portions of Puerto Rico, but should continue to gradually subside.
The storm had maximum sustained winds of 110 mph, making it a strong Category 2 storm. The eye of Maria is moving away from Puerto Rico, heading toward the Dominican Republic and then is expected to move toward Turks and Caicos.
10 p.m.: Coastal city sees hundreds of homes destroyed in Puerto Rico
Felix Delgado, mayor of the northern coastal city of Catano, told The Associated Press that 80 percent of the 454 homes in a neighborhood known as Juana Matos were destroyed. The fishing community near San Juan Bay was hit with a storm surge of more than 4 feet, he said.
“Months and months and months and months are going to pass before we can recover from this,” he said.
8:40 p.m.: Officials say tourists should delay visit to Caribbean territory
The U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Tourism says people who want to visit the Caribbean territory should postpone their trip while authorities assess the effects of Hurricane Maria on St. Croix and recover from the damage to St. Thomas and St. John from Hurricane Irma.
The department says Hurricane Maria brought heavy rainfall and flooding to St. Croix when it passed to the south of the island and communications throughout the islands are limited.
There were no immediate reports Wednesday of any casualties from the storm on St. Croix.
Click here for Wednesday’s updates on the storm.