Apocalyptic scenes after earthquake strikes Guatemala
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail Xinhua, November 9, 2012
A DESOLATE TOWN
Lucre Quem was recovering from illness, and was in bed when the quake came.
"I was lying because I was having a fever. My daughter was in a shower. We decided to wait until it passed," she told Xinhua.
"Then we heard loud noises. My daughter ran to my bed yet a furniture fell and struck her head. I tried to get up and pulled her out, while my husband tried to come go upstairs to help us but failed," she said.
"We finally rushed into the street. I saw walls crash down onto cars. A lady with a baby was trying to get out of her house, but a car was against her door, then a wall fell and killed them both," she said with tears welling in her eyes.
"It was just horrible. Many were injured. The old hotel Perez collapsed, and even some newly built houses were also destroyed. Water storage tanks exploded. We are now without communications, without light, without water, it is a desolate town."
HUGE FAMILY LOSSES
Patron De Leon and his relatives worked on a hill close to the province. Their job was to extract sand and sold it on the market. But when the earthquake struck, the hill collapsed and buried four of his relatives alive.
"My uncle Cruz worked on the job for 40 years. And this morning as he came out with the hope of returning home as usual, he could have never anticipated such a terrible disaster," he said.
"I was terrified by what I saw. It was just like a scary movie," he added.
STRONGEST QUAKE IN 35 YEARS
It has been the strongest earthquake in Guatemala since a 7.5-magnitude earthquake on Feb. 4, 1976, which killed nearly 23,000, and left more than 1 million others homeless.
Esther Flores, 72, said Wednesday's disaster reminded her of the frantic moments during the 1976 earthquake.
"I was shopping in a market when I felt the ground moving and people started running," she said.
She also recalled moments of anguish and helplessness of being out of touch with his children.
"My children were working then, and I tried to call them but failed. And not until an hour later did I knew that they were well," she said.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)