Latino Community Shaken by News of Quake

Marcelo Villafane has tried telephoning relatives in Mexico City at least 30 times in the last two days--without success.

Yet, he spent most of Friday trying to make contact. He doesn’t have a telephone, so he used the one in his brother’s house down the street. Villafane’s experience was typical of many Latino residents of the Minnie Street apartments in southeast Santa Ana who have families in Mexico City and feel compelled to place calls throughout the day because they are worried.

“I have my two daughters, my mother and my nephews, well, practically all of my family, living in the area where the earthquake struck,” said Villafane, 29, as he patiently waited for the daily soap opera on the Spanish television station, KMEX-TV Channel 34, to end so he could watch the news accounts of the massive temblor that rocked the Mexican capital Thursday morning.

“I’ll be going to my brother’s house down the street in a little while to use the phone again. I know it’s still tough getting through, but I’m just not going to sit around,” Villafane said.

Paula Gonzalez, a mother of three, said that she and her family arrived from Mexico City two weeks ago. “I escaped,” she said, laughing. But she is worried about her brother-in-law who works on Mexico City’s main boulevard, Avenida de la Reforma, which sustained some of the heaviest damage. She said her husband is worried because his mother lives in the city as well.

International communications were knocked out by a fire Thursday in Mexico City’s central telephone headquarters. For hours, most of the information on the quake was provided by ham radio operators and the government television station.

But even after the phone lines are restored, news of Otilia Miranda’s relatives still will not reach her for some time. Miranda, 25, has no telephone. Her sister and brother-in-law, who live in Mexico City, don’t have a telephone, either. Miranda doesn’t even have an address for her sister.

“I don’t know what we are going to do,” Miranda said. “The only way we’re going to find out what happened to them is if we get a letter, and you know how long that takes.”

Enrique Avila, 23, said that he has scores of relatives living in Mexico City:

“We’re just really worried,” Avila said. “What else can we do? We’re still keeping in touch with the news on television and that’s how we’re trying to get more information. In the meantime, all we can do is worry.”

Special Mass

At the Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe Church on Santa Ana’s 3rd Street, about 25 people attended a special 7 a.m. Mass on Friday for victims of the earthquake. Parish priest Father Gabino Perez said that the Masses will continue through the weekend.

Father Frank Gallagher, parish priest for the Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe Church in the Delhi district in southeast Santa Ana, said: “On the fourth Sunday of every month our parish normally has a collection for the renovation of the church, but this weekend we’re going to take a special collection for the victims. It’s a poor area (here), but the people are very generous. There are a lot of people who are worried because most of them are from there.”