The Earthquake

David D.

Period 4 Image Project

June 4, 2012 

My dad was one of the few volunteers to the search and rescue team named Cruz Ambar who trained incase of an emergency. He did this mostly because he wanted to be ready in case something would happen. His greatest fear was that he would not be able to save us or rather not know what to do. He had many jobs in his life which all leave him with a desire. Her had always wanted to be a firefighter but he could not because he needed money, which he did not have. So he did the next best thing joined the Cruz Ambar. He joined and found close to what he was looking for. With a happy heart he trained tirelessly and was left with his desire fulfilled.

They were taught that whenever danger strikes they must answer the call.

The day stuck when he finally got called. The natural disaster happened in “1985 Mexico City earthquake, a magnitude 8.0 earthquake that struck Mexico City on the early morning of 19 September 1985 at around 7:19 am (CST),

Caused the deaths of at least 10,000 people and serious damage to the greater Mexico City Area. “ (wikipedia) My father knew this was what all his training was for. He made sure my mother and brother were ok and left to the disaster relief organization. He went to the capital and helped to take out burning victims from the building even though his own life was in danger. He told me of the rescued people were horribly deformed or burned and scared for life. “The Mexico City earthquake was the most catastrophic in the country's history. More than 10,000 people were killed, 30,000 were injured, and large parts of the city were destroyed. About 6,000 buildings were flattened and quarter of a million people lost their homes”(BBC). Some of the people were so charred to a crisp that when he tried to pull the arm of the (the still alive person) his skin and arm peeled off. He went at this for days and nights entirely trying his best to save as many as he possibly could. Some people though were so burned they could not be recognized.  He then was switched to the department were he had to put the bodies in graves. The bodies were stuck in a certain position and they had to be put into the coffin forcefully. He was amazed at the destruction that happened in just five minutes. Yet he was not traumatized because he had seen death before and he knew he had a responsibility to do in lay them to rest. Many people died that day but many were saved by the efforts of those who risked their lives to save those trapped. My dad still remembers this day with a lot of clarity and tells me frequent stories of people he knew that died. I admire my dad and his companions for the risk they took.