Amid the Rubble: Anxious Vigils, Looters

By JUANITA DARLING and DAVID AQUILA LAWRENCE

Jan. 28, 1999 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

ARMENIA, Colombia —

With the bloodshot eyes of a father who had not slept for two days, Heiden Echeverri watched anxiously Wednesday as rescue workers shoveled through the rubble of the building where he last saw his son.

Echeverri desperately hoped that his 20-year-old namesake would not swell the count of the 879 people killed in the earthquake that shook Colombia’s coffee country Monday. Rescue workers said the toll is sure to rise.

But Echeverri’s fading hope was nourished Wednesday morning when rescue workers found 16-year-old David Andres Acevedo with only a few scratches in the same building where the younger Echeverri had been tending the family electronics shop when the magnitude-6 quake hit. At least two other survivors were rescued elsewhere Wednesday.

Yet even as the families of the missing clung to hope, other victims were becoming reckless in their desperate search for food and shelter.

A block from where Echeverri waited to find his son, armed looters pried open the doors of a major downtown supermarket as unarmed police officers watched helplessly. Residents searched inside, emptying the shelves.

A middle-aged woman filled a plastic feed bag with powdered milk, cooking oil and anything else she could grab, explaining: “I have five children, and we have not eaten.”

Later, officers from the secret service arrived on the scene, firing pistols and mini-Uzis in the air and clashing briefly with the mob.

“It’s enough of a tragedy--we cannot allow violence and intolerance,” said Armenia’s mayor, Alvaro Patino, condemning the behavior of the secret service officers.

By late evening, armed groups were roving the city’s blacked-out neighborhoods. Some broke into houses and stores just blocks from where riot police were stationed. In more affluent parts of the city, residents armed themselves with shovels and gardening tools, fearing the arrival of looters. Police and army troops moved in, stopping cars at the edge of town and keeping all but Armenia residents out.

Colombian first lady Nohra Puyana de Pastrana, who is in charge of fund-raising for the disaster, appealed for patience upon hearing of the violence.

“Trust the local government--despite the chaos, they’re very well organized,” she said.

Authorities were also troubled by the fact that the looters ignored the peril of crumbling Sacred Heart Church built over the supermarket, an indication of how oblivious residents are to the dangers of damaged buildings and the continuing aftershocks.

Another large tremor rocked the central state of Santander on Wednesday morning. Although it was a magnitude 5.4, the quake was centered more than 60 miles below the Earth’s surface, and no casualties were reported.

In the city of Calarca, where 116 people died, firefighters warned local officials to move their relief operations from the fire station because the roof had been damaged by aftershocks. Residents there also raided supermarkets until police evicted them.

One officer helped looters jump from a windowsill on their way out and then gave them a cursory kick as they ran from the scene.

“We are going to have more deaths unless people start to behave more prudently,” cautioned Fernando Quirogam, the fire chief of nearby Circasia, where 45% of the town has been destroyed.

Aid is coming in slowly.

“We are doubling our capacity to move supplies,” Interior Minister Nestor Humberto Martinez said Wednesday, standing on the runway in front of a mammoth Hercules troop transport plane.

Martinez said that 160 tons of food, water and medicine had been delivered Wednesday and that flights will continue around the clock. He said that President Andres Pastrana’s official plane had been lent for the effort. The food is being distributed in the area by local government officials.

The United States is providing blankets and plastic sheeting worth about $2 million as an initial contribution to earthquake relief efforts, officials announced in Washington on Wednesday.

Martinez also urged survivors not to buy coffins because hundreds will be rushed in as part of the relief supplies. Coffins are in short supply in the region, and there were reports of price-gouging Wednesday.

Just before darkness, Pastrana transferred his base of operations from the capital, Bogota, to Armenia’s airport, where he will continue to supervise the relief effort.

“We’re here to work to make sure that the help gets to the people who need it,” Pastrana said upon touching down in Armenia. The president, in shirt sleeves, walked off the runway without bodyguards.

Pastrana has hired an independent accounting firm to make sure that all the donations reach the victims of the quake.

“It’s very important to control the process,” said Jaime Bueno, the manager of the firm, Peat Marwick. “People feel more confident about donating.”

Amid the aftershocks, the death toll continued to rise. Maria Angelica Guerrera was among the fatalities.

“After the first tremor, she and her mother went downtown to see, just out of curiosity,” said her husband, Jairo Arenas. “An aftershock brought down the Gran Colombia building, and she was killed.”

Arenas said he searched for her for two days. Then he saw her picture among those of unidentified corpses that had been taken to the nearby city of Cali.

The speed with which the injured and dead have been airlifted to major cities has left many family members still searching. Others know where their loved ones are. They just do not know how they are.

Jairo Burifica raced through the mountains from nearby Quimbaya to look for his mother, aunt, niece and nephew. For two days, he waited on the same corner as Echeverri. His reward came with the rescue of nephew Acevedo--and the hope he brought out with him.

“He told us that he heard noises,” Burifica said. “And [he] asked the rescue workers to be careful because people could be alive nearby.”

Providing more hope, a team of 62 search-and-rescue specialists from Florida’s Miami-Dade Fire Department--under contract to the U.S. government--arrived here Wednesday to help in the effort to locate survivors.

“There’s no way to calculate how many people could be under there,” Mayor Patino said as he stood in what was once the city center. “The only thing we can say is, we still don’t know.”

Times staff writer Darling reported from Armenia, special correspondent Lawrence from Bogota.

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How to Help

These organizations are accepting monetary donations to help victims of Monday’s earthquake in Colombia:

American Red Cross

(800) HELP-NOW (435-7669)

2700 Wilshire Blvd.

P.O. Box 57930

Los Angeles, CA 90057

https://www.acrossla.org

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World Vision