When fists are raised and rescuers ask for silence, a glimmer of hope opens that there are survivors under the rubble in the Colombian city of Pereira, one of the most affected by the magnitude 7.4 earthquake that shook the country on Monday.
The La Lorena residential neighborhood, located in the heart of Pereira, was one of the most affected by the earthquake, where several buildings collapsed due to the seismic movement and many people are desperate to find their relatives under the rubble of what used to be their home.
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The situation in that area is so critical that rescuers and volunteers number in the dozens, as well as the authorities who also have an operation underway to prevent those working in the rescues from suffering medical incidents.
Meanwhile, volunteers and workers form a line to remove rubble in buckets and throw it on top of a taxi that was hit by a concrete slab, leaving it a total loss.
In this context of collaboration, the key moment comes when fists start to be raised and the most experienced rescuers ask for silence. That means there are signs that some survivor may be waiting for rescue under the ruins.
However, many times the rescue teams find nothing, they have to lift their heads and continue their tireless search under the relentless sun of Pereira, which today had a maximum temperature of 31 degrees with 34% humidity.
The earthquake has caused a total of about 240 deaths, according to the balance of various regional authorities, although the Colombian president, Abelardo de la Espriella, reported that the number of deceased is 188 so far.
Pereira, capital of the department of Risaralda, in the tourist region of the Coffee Axis, has been one of the most affected cities with at least 90 of the fatalities.
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There is always hope
Among the rescuers is Wílder Alvear, a young disaster support doctor, who confesses to EFE that despite the adversities, he maintains hope of finding people alive under the rubble of the buildings in the La Lorena neighborhood.
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“Since yesterday afternoon we have been supporting the entire accompaniment process. There is a person who, up to this moment, we believe is alive. There are conditions, there is accompaniment with dogs and we are waiting to see if there is a patient alive, which is what we want,” he states.
The man, dressed in his medical uniform, is aware that the hardest part may be finding lifeless that person they believe is still alive in the most difficult conditions. Once they find them, their work will be essential because they will have to stabilize the patient to be able to transfer them to a medical center.
“We have organized ourselves into a great team to provide accompaniment and stabilization of our patient, whom we hope will come out alive,” he reveals.
However, it is also a priority to support families, provide them with information about their loved ones, and guide them in the search process, which becomes more difficult as hours pass.
The most difficult moment
While in one building they search for a living person, in another, several soldiers and rescuers come out carrying a woman who died while her son walks beside her, inconsolable, shouting “my mother” and crying bitterly.
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The body passes by where the other rescuers are looking for a person they believe is alive and silence envelops the scene.
Activities stop for a moment and everyone returns to silence, which this time is not of hope but of frustration because the work does not yield the expected results.
However, just a moment later they lift their heads again and regain hope that under the rubble they manage to find a person clinging to life and willing to have a second chance after losing everything in the strongest earthquake so far this century in Colombia.
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