Wednesday 14 January 2009, San José, Costa
Rica
An Eerie Silence
After The Quake
Housing Bonds To Be Used
To Reconstruct Homes
Destroyed In Earthquake
Death Toll In Quake
Rises to 21
Thousands On Alert
For Aftershocks
First Drop Of The
Year In Gasoline Prices Approved
Police Seize Over 1 Ton
of Cocaine
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An Eerie Silence After
The Quake
Driving to the Poás
volcano from Heredia
seems normal until you
get within kilometres of
Vara Blanca, when you
start to see the real
effects of Thursday's
quake and are overcome
by the eerie silence
coming from communities
like Los Cartagos which
has been completed
abandoned.
Up the Alajuela route to
the Poás is a different
story. Most of the
shelters housing
refugees are set up
there in communities
like Fraijanes and
Poasito. Parks and empty
lots have been converted
into campgrounds, people
pitching tents and
calling it home. For
now.
Earth moving equipment
cleaning up the roads,
trucks carrying dirt
from one place to
another and chainsaws
buzzing as they cut down
trees before they fall
onto the road and houses
below are everywhere.
Members of the Fuerza
Pública (police) in
addition to keeping law
and order in the area
have been relegated to
delivering food to the
hundreds of workers that
make up the clean up
crews.
We could not get as far
at the entrance to the
town of Vara Blanca, as
police road blocks at
impede anyone without
authorization to enter
the worst of the areas
affected.
Yesterday's (Tuesday)
trip into the affected
area was nothing like
the images captured by
the television cameras.
This was the "real"
thing. Hillsides fallen
into the valley below,
roads cracked, some
houses completely
demolished by the force
of the earthquake, while
others next door not a
nail moved.
There was no one around
to be found in many
communities. Homes
abandoned, locks on
doors shut tight and
family pets, including a
goat, keeping an eye on
things as their owners
moved to homes of
family, friends or
shelters.
Raul Paho a nine year
resident of Los Cartagos
until three months ago,
when he moved a few
hundred metres down the
mountain, explained what
he felt during the
quake. "It felt like the
earth was pushing me up
and then moving me to
one side", Paho told ICR,
who like many in the
area are pitching in in
whatever way they can to
help out.
At the shelter in La
Lagunilla de Fraijanes,
where 270 people - at
least 100 children - are
being temporarily
housed, the mood is
somber. The pain shows
in the faces of the
parents who are asking
themselves, now what?
where do we go from
here? as the children
are kept entertained.
A short distance from
the shelter, many have
taken shelter by
pitching tents in empty
lots, as the Cruz Roja
and the Fuerza
Pública maintain a
constant vigilance of
the area.
Not far from Fraijanes
is Poasito, only six
kilometres from the Poás
volcano and short
distance from Vara
Blanca. Here, some 500
people are taking
shelter and fearing to
go back to their homes,
for those who have homes
to go back to, as the
aftershocks continue.
In total there are 21
shelters in the area
housing 2.000 people.
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Raul Paho, a former long time resident of Los Cartagos,
tells ICR what he felt during the 6.2 earthquake last
Thursdays. Los Cartagos, a short distance from Vara
Blanca, is completely abandoned today.
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Legislator Mario Quirós and his team inspecting the
damage caused by Thursday's earthquake. Quirós told ICR
that he sees a quick legislative approval to the us$65
million dollar credit by the World Bank, to help with
the reconstruction of the infrastructure of the area
damaged by the earthquake. |
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