The Nation - News from Oct. 11, 1985

The National Guard ordered everyone out of Mameyes shantytown at Ponce, Puerto Rico, after the government said it was considering making a common grave of the mud slide where up to 500 people are believed buried. A 30-hour tropical deluge causing an estimated $100 million in damage triggered the avalanche Monday morning that toppled about 400 wood and tin shacks in the hillside shantytown outside Ponce. Gov. Rafael Hernandez Colon said a decision will be made soon whether to seal off the disaster site to avoid an outbreak of disease. Health officials said decomposing bodies, covered by mud, rocks and splintered homes, were creating a threat of water contamination, typhoid fever, mosquito-borne diseases, tetanus and diphtheria.