Nicaragua's Poor
Scavenge 1972 Earthquake Wreckage
By Blanca Morel (AFP)
MANAGUA - While Haiti and Chile face years
of rebuilding from two massive quakes,
Nicaragua still bears the scars of its
powerful 1972 temblor, and the tons of
twisted steel and cement it left behind are
now scavenging grounds for the poor.
Mounds of debris from crumbled buildings
that were dumped into Xolotlan Lake after
the quake are now being brought up and
heaped onshore in a government cleanup
program that has turned into a godsend for
needy scrap metal sellers.
"I've been coming here for a month to pick
up metal and sell it to buy food, because
there are no jobs in this country,"
35-year-old Maritza Guevara told AFP as she
sifted through the mass of cement and steel
with the help of one of her five children.
Nicaragua is the Western Hemisphere's second
poorest country after Haiti with close to 50
percent underemployment rate and a scant 995
dollars of gross domestic product per
capita, according to International Monetary
Fund's 2008 figures.
"With what we scrounge, we can barely eat
because we just have enough for some rice
and beans" for the kids, Guevara said.
Children as young as 10 help their parents
break clumps of cement apart to free at
least 46 kilos (100 pounds) of rebar and
scrap iron in a day that is sold for 8.5
dollars to scrap metal merchants waiting in
nearby trucks.
"I only come here to bust up cement so I can
buy food for my eight brothers," said
15-year-old Jose Ruiz, who was demolishing
the rubble after school -- he is in the
fourth grade.
The December 23, 1972 earthquake in Managua
killed 5,000 people and left more than a
quarter million homeless. The rubble of
countless buildings and homes was by
government decision dumped in Xolotlan Lake,
also known as Lake Managua, one of the
biggest and most polluted in Nicaragua.
The administration of President Daniel
Ortega a year ago obtained international
funding to restore the lake back to health.
One month ago, dredgers and other heavy
equipment began pulling the rubble from the
lake's murky bottom.
As soon as the material began piling up
onshore, people from the poorer districts of
Managua and nearby towns of Manchester,
Cristo del Rosario, Acahualinca and Ruben
Dario descended on the lakeshore to work on
it day and night.
"It's tough work, but we've got no choice;
there are no jobs," said Fredy Sirias, 21,
as he toiled atop some slabs at the water's
edge.
Sirias cannot read or write. He left home
near the capital a month ago to make some
money to support his 16-year-old fiancee and
their first baby due next month.
"With the money I make, I can buy food and
diapers," he said.
"It's the only job we've got for now," said
39-year-old Silvio Munoz, who was sharing
the rubble pile with Sirias. |
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