Mexican Rescuers Race Time; Toll Climbs to 3,000

Exhausted rescue workers Saturday wielded picks and shovels against the massive devastation of Mexico City, racing time and continuing aftershocks in their search for victims still trapped in debris as the death toll from two giant earthquakes mounted.

The Mexican government raised its official death toll to 3,000 late Saturday, and a Mexican newspaper put the number of dead at 4,000. More than 2,000 were known to be trapped in two collapsed hospitals alone. Thousands remained caught in the wreckage of apartment buildings, offices and schools demolished by the quakes, which struck Thursday morning and then again Friday night.

U.S. Ambassador to Mexico John Gavin, in what he described as a “guess,” estimated that the total fatalities could reach as high as 10,000.

“We are talking surely of 10,000 and maybe more,” he said at a Mexico City news conference after a helicopter tour of the stricken area. “It could be twice that number.”

“My friend, it is impossible to say at this moment how many lived and how many died,” said Baladier Beltran Correa, head of the temporary morgue at the city’s Cuauthemoc district headquarters.

At Least 15,000 Hurt

Mexico City police said that at least 15,000 people were injured and are being treated and that another 20,000 are homeless. They also counted 196 buildings so battered by the back-to-back quakes that they will have to be demolished.

At least five Americans were listed among the dead. U.S. authorities Saturday identified one as Georgiana Mary Yunes, 30, who was born in San Antonio but lived in Mexico. Late Friday, they announced that Mary Elizabeth Vallejo, 34, and her two children--Ilse Ann Vallejo, 8, and Alonso Vallejo, 5--also perished when they were struck by falling debris. A fifth American was not identified, pending notification of relatives.

Vallejo’s family in Cozad, Neb., said they believe that Mary Vallejo’s husband, a Mexican national, also died.

36 Hours After First

The aftershock that rocked Mexico City late Friday, 36 hours after the first temblor shuddered through the city, registered 7.3 on the Richter scale. Authorities said initial indications were that it caused few deaths or injuries, but it toppled previously teetering structures, including at least 20 major buildings, sent windows crashing into the streets, cut gas lines and tore the cross off an old church.

As cracks in walls and stairwells widened from the aftershock, thousands of residents abandoned their apartment buildings in fear that future tremors would bring the structures crashing down. In the hardest-hit neighborhoods, people camped in the streets and refused to reenter their homes.

The U.S. State Department said three hospitals, the Hotel Aristo, a facility popular with tourists, and other structures were destroyed in Friday’s quake.

The Cafe Havana, a legendary coffeehouse where Fidel Castro reportedly planned the Cuban revolution, crumbled to the ground Friday, but there were no reported injuries.

The Friday quake toppled the cross from the Tacuba Church and left its tower leaning precariously.

Genie Davis, an American Red Cross worker returning from Mexico City to her home in Wichita Falls, Tex., said a number of people were trapped when Friday’s earthquake smashed a Sears Roebuck department store.

“I was told that there were people in the store shopping at the time of the quake,” Davis said. “Ambulances were bringing in more people. There were all sorts of rescue teams.”

The aftershock, like its predecessor, the 7.8-magnitude quake that struck Thursday morning, was centered on the Mexican coast 200 miles from Mexico City. Additional aftershocks, including one that registered 4.3 on the Richter scale, rolled through the battered city Saturday.

Many Staying Outside

Initial reports said relatively few people were killed or hurt in the Friday jolt because so many residents were staying outside, away from precarious buildings.

Israel Diaz huddled under a Red Cross blanket and described the aftershock that renewed terror among dazed Mexicans.

“We felt the tremor, saw the dust and watched an office block crumble to nothing,” he said.

The massive aftershock only temporarily disrupted the feverish rescue efforts of 100,000 volunteers who fanned out across the capital in search of residents who were buried alive. Mexican authorities said that 600 people have been pulled from the ruins alive since Thursday but that far more have been found dead.

The deaths were not limited to Mexico City. As reports--hampered by faulty telephone lines--came in irregularly from the Mexican countryside, the toll grew.

300 Dead in Colima

In Colima, the city nearest the epicenter, an estimated 300 were dead and hundreds were injured, a television station in Monterrey reported.

In the state of Michoacan, more than 70 people were reported dead and another 150 injured. Most were in Ciudad Guzman, where a church collapsed and 30% of the houses in town were destroyed or seriously damaged. Thirty-two were killed in the collapse of two resort hotels in Playa Azul, a beach resort.

Offshore, two freighters and 19 fishing boats sailing near the epicenter when the first shock occurred are still missing, but two other freighters that had been feared sunk were reported safe. All the missing fishing boats are Mexican, and one of the freighters still missing is of Liberian registry.

Emergency officials said that 70% of the 1,300 bodies already brought to Mexico City morgues have been identified but that--in order to limit the spread of infectious disease--many may have to be buried before they are identified.

Through the day Saturday, relatives walked through morgues, searching for loved ones.

Common Graves

“It is traumatic,” said one man leaving a morgue.

Common graves were dug in the city’s 211 cemeteries for the unclaimed dead. Plans were made to fumigate the collapsed buildings where bodies were trapped. The city government assured citizens that the fumigations would wait until it was clear that no survivors remained at each site.

Lists of the dead posted at city borough halls brought tears from those seeking the missing--either because a name appeared or because there was still no word.

Some of the listings reflected the gruesome aftermath of the earthquake.

“Headless woman,” read one entry at Cuauhtemoc borough hall.

“An unidentified man,” read several others.

Some progress was made, at painstaking effort. Authorities said power was restored by late Saturday to 65% of the capital, but the rest remained without water because of broken pipes. Those who could get water were urged to boil it to insure its safety. Local telephone service was operating, but most international lines were still down.

Relayed by Radio

With the loss of long-distance phone service, one radio station with a large U.S. audience devoted its air time to sending messages from Mexico City residents to relatives in Texas and other border states.

“I’d like to get this message to Berkeley, California,” said one woman. The sad message: Her daughter’s three young girls, who had been visiting the caller while on vacation, were dead.

Tourism Minister Antonio Enrique-Savignac said in Houston on Saturday that the situation in the capital was “under control” and that subways, buses and trains were running normally.

An emergency ham radio network reported that there appeared to be no outbreak of disease and no food shortages.

Mexican President Miguel de la Madrid, meanwhile, appealed to his grieving nation to preserve unity.

‘Will Bury Our Dead’

“We will bury our dead with sadness, but at the same time we will renew our will to live and to cure our wounds,” he said. “The truth is that in the face of an earthquake of this magnitude, we do not have the resources to confront the tragedy with speed and sufficiency.”

President Reagan offered his condolences to the Mexican people in his weekly radio broadcast Saturday and announced that First Lady Nancy Reagan will arrive in Mexico City on Monday to personally comfort the victims and offer U.S. support.

“We greatly admire the bravery and resolve of the Mexican people to dedicate all their resources to overcome this calamitous event,” the President said.

American experts boarded planes heading for the ravaged area after the first official Mexican government appeal for aid was received by Washington late Friday. A second appeal, seen as evidence of the drastic need, was received Saturday.

U.S. Demolition Experts

Ambassador Gavin said 25 U.S. demolitions experts, three trucks and five helicopters were sent to Mexico on an Air Force C-5A transport plane. The demolition team was asked to help knock down an estimated 30 buildings that are believed to pose a hazard.

Three firefighting helicopters were sent from California to the capital to help quell the blazes that have burned since the first quake hit Thursday. Several U.S. Forest Service helicopters, carrying fire equipment to attach to Mexican government aircraft, were expected to arrive late Saturday.

M. Peter McPherson, director of the U.S. Agency for International Development, which is coordinating the official response, said a team of search experts with track dogs and sophisticated equipment were due to arrive in Mexico City before dawn. The team hopes to be able to find people trapped in the rubble before the buildings are razed.

McPherson said it was the first time in years that even one appeal for help had been received from the Mexican government.

Buildings to Be Leveled

“The plan of attack is to get some of these unsound buildings down with explosives, once they are satisfied that all the bodies are out,” said L.O. Martin, deputy chief of the Houston Emergency Management Center, which was sending civil defense workers and rescue equipment in a caravan to Mexico City.

It was not known how long the search for bodies would take. As the hours passed Saturday, hopes dimmed for the survival of most of those still trapped.

“Most of the people were already out (before the second quake), but there are still some inside. We don’t know if they’re alive. It’s been a long time for them,” said one of the soldiers patrolling the streets.

Two British students were miraculously freed alive, however, after being trapped in the Hotel El Romano for 30 hours. But diplomats said many foreigners were feared dead in the seven hotels that have collapsed.

Trapped in 2 Hospitals

Emergency officials estimated that 2,200 people lay trapped in the wreckage of two hospitals, the 12-story Juarez Hospital and the national medical center. Some were still alive. Rescue workers inserted rubber hoses into gaps in the ruins, hoping to supply air until heavy machinery arrived to help.

More than 350 patients and 600 employees--including 40 doctors--were trapped in the Juarez hospital alone, officials said. So far, only 32 bodies have been pulled from the outpatient medical clinic. The main section of the facility remained untouched by rescue workers.

“We estimate--and can only approximate--we have 500, perhaps 700 buried in this one heap,” said Ernesto Pallares, cleanup supervisor at the Juarez Hospital. “It’s been two days, and we are still recovering people--alive.

“We know we have a pocket of at least 10 people alive in this rubble,” he added. “We can talk to them. We cannot get water and food to them.”

Threat of Gas Leaks

Estimates of the number trapped in the medical center were raised from 400 to 1,200 Saturday, the official government news agency reported. Gas leaks reportedly threatened to erupt at the medical facility.

Outside along the manicured boulevards and parks of downtown Mexico City, hundreds of thousands endured another night of forced camping under the only roof considered safe--the open sky.

Dan Williams reported from Mexico City and Cathleen Decker from Los Angeles. Also contributing were Times staff writers Patt Morrison, Victor Valle, Dick Emerson and Leonard Greenwood in Los Angeles.