Hope lost as Concepcion tower razed
Source: Agencies |
March 8, 2010, Monday
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WORKERS demolished a fallen 15-story apartment building that has come to symbolize Chile's earthquake after officials said there was no more hope for finding survivors inside.
The only known remaining victim not recovered from the Alto Rio building was 21-year-old Jose Luis Leon, whose father on Saturday shouted desperately into holes in the concrete cut by rescuers looking for trapped victims.
"Jose Luis! Jose Luis!" cried Jose Leon, who had been given permission by authorities for one last search through the rubble for his son.
There was no answer.
Shortly afterward, a yellow excavator began clawing into the concrete slabs and twisted metal to completely demolish the structure whose collapse during the February 27 earthquake had moved Chileans.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited the fallen apartment building in the quake-shattered city of Concepcion on Saturday.
"I am convinced that with bravery and strong determination, you will rise back on your feet again to build a better future," Ban told Chileans.
Emergency workers said continuing aftershocks have made the rubble too unstable for firefighters to continue looking for Jose Luis Leon and there is no hope of finding more survivors in the Alto Rio building.
"The family understands that there is nothing else the firefighters can do," Commander Juan Carlos Subercaseaux told Chile's Radio Cooperativa, suggesting that the son's body might be recoverable for burial once the demolition is done.
At least seven significant aftershocks shook Chile on Saturday, the largest with a preliminary magnitude of 5.1, according to the US Geological Survey.
No additional damage or injuries were immediately reported, but aftershocks have dangerously weakened buildings all across the disaster zone, including a 22-story office tower whose now-exposed upper floors have partly pancaked and threaten to crash down onto downtown Concepcion. The city's mayor has announced at least five contracts for controlled demolitions of such buildings.
At least 500,000 homes were destroyed, but the figure could reach 1.5 million, Housing Minister Patricia Poblete said.
At least the Leon family knows the body is somewhere inside the wreckage of the Alto Rio. A week after the 8.8-magnitude earthquake and tsunami, hundreds of people are still searching for relatives with the help of community radio station Bio-Bio, which broadcasts their appeals day and night. With power still out in vast stretches of the disaster area, phone lines downed and cell service spotty, communication was difficult or impossible for most survivors.
The only known remaining victim not recovered from the Alto Rio building was 21-year-old Jose Luis Leon, whose father on Saturday shouted desperately into holes in the concrete cut by rescuers looking for trapped victims.
"Jose Luis! Jose Luis!" cried Jose Leon, who had been given permission by authorities for one last search through the rubble for his son.
There was no answer.
Shortly afterward, a yellow excavator began clawing into the concrete slabs and twisted metal to completely demolish the structure whose collapse during the February 27 earthquake had moved Chileans.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited the fallen apartment building in the quake-shattered city of Concepcion on Saturday.
"I am convinced that with bravery and strong determination, you will rise back on your feet again to build a better future," Ban told Chileans.
Emergency workers said continuing aftershocks have made the rubble too unstable for firefighters to continue looking for Jose Luis Leon and there is no hope of finding more survivors in the Alto Rio building.
"The family understands that there is nothing else the firefighters can do," Commander Juan Carlos Subercaseaux told Chile's Radio Cooperativa, suggesting that the son's body might be recoverable for burial once the demolition is done.
At least seven significant aftershocks shook Chile on Saturday, the largest with a preliminary magnitude of 5.1, according to the US Geological Survey.
No additional damage or injuries were immediately reported, but aftershocks have dangerously weakened buildings all across the disaster zone, including a 22-story office tower whose now-exposed upper floors have partly pancaked and threaten to crash down onto downtown Concepcion. The city's mayor has announced at least five contracts for controlled demolitions of such buildings.
At least 500,000 homes were destroyed, but the figure could reach 1.5 million, Housing Minister Patricia Poblete said.
At least the Leon family knows the body is somewhere inside the wreckage of the Alto Rio. A week after the 8.8-magnitude earthquake and tsunami, hundreds of people are still searching for relatives with the help of community radio station Bio-Bio, which broadcasts their appeals day and night. With power still out in vast stretches of the disaster area, phone lines downed and cell service spotty, communication was difficult or impossible for most survivors.
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