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Landslide buries 300 homes in Mexico as villagers sleep
Source: Agencies |
September 29, 2010, Wednesday
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A LANDSLIDE buried some 300 homes in a remote area of southwestern Mexico yesterday, possibly killing hundreds of people while they slept.
Heavy rains in mountainous Oaxaca state brought a giant swath of earth down on homes in Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec, a town of about 9,000 people, between 3am and 4am.
Oaxaca Governor Ulises Ruiz told Televisa network that 500 to 600 people may have been killed, injured or buried, while Excelsior, a leading national newspaper, said the death toll could be as high as 1,000 people.
"We are told that an area about 200 meters wide collapsed," Ruiz said. Donato Vargas, an official in Santa Maria de Tlahuitoltepec reached by a satellite telephone, said 500 people were missing and that 300 homes were buried.
"We were all sleeping and all I heard was a loud noise and when I left the house I saw that the hill had fallen," Vargas said. He said he called the Mexican army and state officials for help.
"It has been difficult informing authorities because the roads are very bad and there isn't a good signal for our phone," Vargas said shortly before the call dropped.
The government has sent police, marines and soldiers to the area, a four-hour drive from the state capital of Oaxaca, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Ruiz said rescue workers were being sent to the area by plane and a spokesman for the Mexican Navy said a convoy of marines was en route. Yet it may be hours at least before authorities can reach the remote region.
Heavy rains have fallen on Central America and parts of Mexico for days as two storm systems moved across the Western Caribbean.
Parts of Mexico are enduring their worst rainy season on record, which has triggered heavy flooding and forced thousands of people from their homes in the country's vulnerable regions.
Huge swaths of riverside communities in southern Mexico were still under water yesterday - flooding exacerbated by the passage of Hurricane Karl and Tropical Storm Matthew. At least 15 deaths in Mexico were blamed on the hurricane.
Tabata Anton, an official at a technical college based in Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec, said by phone from the state capital that teachers trying to get to the area on Monday had turned around because of roads blocked by earth and rock.
She said there had been no communication yesterday with the institute's about 60 students from Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec.
Heavy rains in mountainous Oaxaca state brought a giant swath of earth down on homes in Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec, a town of about 9,000 people, between 3am and 4am.
Oaxaca Governor Ulises Ruiz told Televisa network that 500 to 600 people may have been killed, injured or buried, while Excelsior, a leading national newspaper, said the death toll could be as high as 1,000 people.
"We are told that an area about 200 meters wide collapsed," Ruiz said. Donato Vargas, an official in Santa Maria de Tlahuitoltepec reached by a satellite telephone, said 500 people were missing and that 300 homes were buried.
"We were all sleeping and all I heard was a loud noise and when I left the house I saw that the hill had fallen," Vargas said. He said he called the Mexican army and state officials for help.
"It has been difficult informing authorities because the roads are very bad and there isn't a good signal for our phone," Vargas said shortly before the call dropped.
The government has sent police, marines and soldiers to the area, a four-hour drive from the state capital of Oaxaca, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Ruiz said rescue workers were being sent to the area by plane and a spokesman for the Mexican Navy said a convoy of marines was en route. Yet it may be hours at least before authorities can reach the remote region.
Heavy rains have fallen on Central America and parts of Mexico for days as two storm systems moved across the Western Caribbean.
Parts of Mexico are enduring their worst rainy season on record, which has triggered heavy flooding and forced thousands of people from their homes in the country's vulnerable regions.
Huge swaths of riverside communities in southern Mexico were still under water yesterday - flooding exacerbated by the passage of Hurricane Karl and Tropical Storm Matthew. At least 15 deaths in Mexico were blamed on the hurricane.
Tabata Anton, an official at a technical college based in Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec, said by phone from the state capital that teachers trying to get to the area on Monday had turned around because of roads blocked by earth and rock.
She said there had been no communication yesterday with the institute's about 60 students from Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec.
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