A resident walks on the debris of a collapsed house in Tepalcingo, Morelos, Mexico, on Sept. 22, 2017. Some 293 people have been confirmed killed in the 7.1-magnitude earthquake that hit central Mexico on Tuesday, the head of the national civil protection agency, Luis Felipe Puente, said on Friday. (Xinhua/Marco Diaz)
by Luis Rojas
MEXICO CITY, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- "My whole life is here," said Amanda Gonzalez, a resident of capital Mexico City, explaining why she refused to vacate her residential building, despite clear risks.
The downtown Geminis building where Gonzalez lives is sandwiched between two others that were severely damaged by the destructive 7.1-magnitude quake, which toppled nearly 40 apartment buildings, damaged 2,900 buildings and killed 155 people across the capital city.
The buildings flanking Gonzalez's have been evacuated due to the near certainty that they will collapse.
"Civil Protection already told us the buildings next door are going to fall, but that they are going to plummet downwards, not fall sideways," Gonzalez told Xinhua, sounding confident of their assessment.
Most owners of the apartments in the Geminis building are clinging to their properties inside, hoping for the best. Those who have left were mainly tenants, said Gonzalez, who lives with her husband, their four-year-old son and her parents.
Her block has been closed to traffic. Authorities are even discouraging foot traffic in the area, by installing yellow caution tape along the sidewalks, though no officials are on site to keep pedestrians out.
The quake collapsed the interior staircases of the damaged buildings and shattered windows; one of the buildings appears to list slightly.
Hermilio Estrada, the owner of a small shop on the ground floor of the Geminis, was selling merchandise to other stores.
"There are still many people (in the building). The problem is they don't have a place to go to. But the risk of the buildings falling down is very high," said Estrada.
He has run the store for 14 years, he said, adding the buildings in the block were built in the 1970s.
Ricardo Monreal is the head of the city's Cuauhtemoc district, where the damaged buildings stand, part of a three-building complex called Morelos.
During an inspection of the quake damage earlier this week, he said he was "very concerned" about the Morelos complex, where each structure houses 54 apartments.
Gonzalez admitted that she shared some of that concern.
"They told me we were in no danger, but they warned us the decision to stay was our own responsibility," she said.
The death toll from the quake has been rising steadily and now stands at 293, with most registered in densely populated Mexico City, said the national civil protection agency on Friday.
Rescue workers are continuing to search for survivors.
