Countywide : Nicaraguans Seek News of Families

Nicaraguans in Orange County are frantically trying to reach their families and friends back home in the wake of a massive earthquake and tidal wave that devastated the Central American country.

Many are finding it difficult to reach relatives in Nicaragua because of the damaged telephone lines.

Rodrigo Vega, 26, who just moved to Santa Ana last year, has many relatives still living in Masachapa, a coastal town that experienced severe damage.

Vega said he is concerned because he has not been able to reach any of them for the last several days.

“It’s really starting to worry me now that I have heard there have been 100 people killed,” Vega said in Spanish. “I figure the only chance I have is to call the consulate.”

Ivone Rodriguez, 38, a Placentia resident, said she tried calling the Nicaraguan Consulate during her office breaks but all the lines were busy.

“I want to know what I can do to help,” Rodriguez said in Spanish. “I hope this country can help Nicaragua like it has in the past.”

Rodriguez was a high school student during the Managua earthquake in 1971 and remembers the devastation it caused. “If the damage is anywhere near the same as then, it must be horrible,” she said.

Robert Trolese, a Christian minister visiting the United States, said he was one of the lucky few able to contact his friends in Nicaragua.

“I haven’t received word from all of my friends, but what I hear is that the coast has been pretty much destroyed,” Trolese said. “About a quarter of a mile inland was wiped out.”

Edgardo Buitrago, 22, of Anaheim said she learned that one of her friends in Nicaragua died during the earthquake and ensuing tidal wave.

Buitrago said she had once stayed at a hotel in Casares, a coastal town, where the friend owned a hotel 50 feet from the shore.

“ La senora was 74 years old, and she had been there for many years,” Buitrago said. “She had a good business because she was so close to the water.”

Buitrago also said that her family home in Poneloya was destroyed but that, luckily, no one was hurt. “As a child I used to have a lot of fun there,” she said. “Now I feel awful because when I go back la senora won’t be there any longer.”