Photos: the aftermath of the Mexico City earthquake

By artappraiser on Wed, 09/20/2017 - 10:37am |

A collation from Getty Images service @ Vox.com, 10:16 am

All on one page, so no need to do the slideshow thing.

URL:

https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/9/19/16336222/photos-mexico-city-earthquake

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These call-for-silence images are most heart stopping to me:

by artappraiser on Wed, 09/20/2017 - 11:23am

There is so much that is sad and tragic but what is the point of the "silencio" sign? I don't get it.

PS I just saw a report on CNN that makes it clear that the rescue workers wanted quiet because they were listening for sounds of victims that might have been trapped. That would be maybe my very worst nightmare.

by A Guy Called LULU on Wed, 09/20/2017 - 12:17pm

Yes, that's it, that's what they are doing. Apologies I presumed people would have looked at the captions at the link already and I didn't need to copy them. If you can just imagine everyone in a crowd holding their breath at once and praying and hoping in the midst of chaos all around...

by artappraiser on Wed, 09/20/2017 - 12:58pm

Mexico City Volunteers Venture Out in Force to Aid Quake Victims

By Kirk Semple @ NYTimes.com, Sept. 20

Emergency supplies at a distribution point in Mexico City.
Pedro Pardo/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

MEXICO CITY — They arrived alone, in pairs or in groups. Some brought supplies others might need: water, blankets, medicine, tools. Others came with nothing more than able hands and a sense of purpose.

And as midnight neared on Tuesday — hours after a powerful, deadly earthquake struck central Mexico — Parque España, the verdant refuge of dog-walkers and young lovers in the Condesa neighborhood of the capital, had become the venue for something else: a frenetic, impromptu relief center, where hundreds of volunteers, under the leadership of nobody in particular, had created an emergency distribution point for food and supplies.

“It’s very characteristic of the Mexican people: We stand together,” said Christian Piñeiro, 21, a medical student, who was helping a team of doctors hand out medication. Behind him, in the darkness, supplies were being frantically passed along bucket lines of volunteers that snaked from one side of the park to the other.

“Independent of the fact that there are gangs and crime,” Mr. Piñeiro continued, “the people unify against adversity.” [....]

Volunteers removed rubble from a collapsed building in Condesa.
CRebecca Blackwell/Associated Press

Throughout much of Mexico City on Tuesday, nightfall brought an eerie quietude, as businesses closed early and people sought the succor of their families at home. But in the hardest hit neighborhoods, the landscape was different: blocks cast in darkness from power failures were punctuated by nodes of intense activity.

On another block in Condesa, a traffic circle had been converted into a small, noisy redistribution point. Trucks, cars, motorcycles arrived, a couple every minute, to drop off supplies, which were sorted, repackaged and sent back out into the city [....]

“We’re neighbors,” said Magdalena Camarillo, 27, an internet technology programmer, who was helping to receive and load packages.

It was as though the collective memory of the devastating 1985 earthquake seemed to animate the city: Back then, the authorities failed to act quickly and citizens took the lead in what is now considered the birth of civil society in Mexico [....]

by artappraiser on Wed, 09/20/2017 - 3:18pm

But Wait! I thought only Americans come to the rescue when there is a natural disaster! At least that is what the media and politicians all say when Americans actually help their fellow citizens who would otherwise drown. Can we please acknowledge that pretty much all people do this, and not describe it as "American Exceptionalism?" Doing the right thing about Climate Change, and making a commitment to universal health care would bring us up even with the rest of the developed world as far as exceptionalism goes. We are way below the bar now.

AA - This is not for you at all. I just like to point this out because it is like a burr in my saddle.

All that said, they just pulled out the little girl they have been working to free all day in Mexico!

by CVille Dem on Wed, 09/20/2017 - 6:52pm

Photos: the aftermath of the Mexico City earthquake

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