Boy, 9, Believed Alive in Mexico Quake Rubble

Rescue workers found a survivor Wednesday in the rubble of a building wrecked by Mexico’s killer earthquake two weeks ago and burrowed frantically to reach the person, believed to be a 9-year-old boy.

The boy’s grandfather at first was thought to be trapped alive with him, but a relative said later in the day that the man apparently was dead.

The discovery came as U.S. Ambassador John Gavin announced that another U.S. citizen was found dead, bringing to 11 the number of Americans confirmed killed in two quakes that rocked central Mexico Sept. 19 and 20, killing thousands of people and knocking down hundreds of buildings.

Mexican authorities said earlier that rescue workers found the 9-year-old boy and his grandfather buried in what had been an eight-story apartment building on Venustiano Carranza, a small street just north of the National Palace.

The boy’s parents were at the scene. His father, Mauricio Alberto Nafarrete, said his son had communicated with rescuers.

Nafarrete said the boy had told workers that his name is “Monchito”--the nickname of Nafarrete’s son, Luis Ramon, 9. The boy said he was lying on his back, but could wiggle his arms and legs, the father reported. The grandfather was identified as Luis Maldonado, 57.

The workers said they were trying to get water, glucose and oxygen to the boy, but could not reach him. Two tunnels were dug toward him, but both collapsed during the day, a Red Cross volunteer said. No injuries were reported in either collapse.

No other survivors have been found since Friday, when two newborn infants and a woman were recovered alive. The woman died Saturday from injuries.

Rescue squads from France and West Germany and an Italian crew using dogs had worked at the apartment building site until Sunday. Mexican crews continued digging after rapping was heard from under the rubble.

Heavy rain Tuesday night turned the mounds of dirt and debris that once were buildings into quagmires, making it difficult for rescuers to dig.

Earlier Wednesday, rescue workers announced they had pulled the disaster’s tiniest survivor, a Chihuahua puppy, from the ruins of an apartment building.

Dr. Francisco Villanueva, working in the ruins of the 14-story Nuevo Leon apartment building in the Tlatelolco district, said the dog was found Tuesday.

Villanueva said that finding the puppy “may indicate” people still were alive under the ruins, but other workers just shook their heads or said they didn’t know.

The U.S. Embassy said Wednesday that an estimated 7,000 people were killed in the quake, about 1,500 more than the last official government total, and some 50,000 were left homeless.

Severely damaged buildings throughout the city were demolished Wednesday, and the rubble was hauled away in convoys of dump trucks and deposited at several collection points.

Ambassdor Gavin said it will cost as much as $4 billion to rebuild the quake-ravaged capital.

A “preliminary figure of $2.5 billion to $3.5 billion was necessary . . . to clear the rubble and re-establish” the city, with repairs to the water system raising that amount by another $500 million, he said.

The ambassador also said that although the quake disaster presented a challenge, “it can be coped with, it can be addressed with the cooperation and assistance of the United States and other creditor nations. It can be worked out.”

Two weeks after the killer quakes, the capital was “a remarkably well-functioning city, considering the circumstances . . . with pockets of destruction and pain,” he said.

“We think they are going to come out of this remarkably well . . . that they will make great progress despite this calamity.”

Gavin sent letters to the governors of all 50 states urging them to channel American quake-relief donations to a special fund set up to rebuild Mexican schools and hospitals.

Gavin will be one of the trustees of the fund and the money will be handled by the American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico, a U.S. Embassy statement said.

The fund will be used to help repair or rebuild more than 200 primary and elementary schools and several hospitals that were destroyed or damaged in the quakes.

The United States has already committed $5 million in aid for Mexico City’s Reconstruction Fund, and about 200 U.S. government-sponsored personnel helped search for trapped victims and on emergency medical teams.