Search halted for missing in Guatemala landslide that killed 280

GUATEMALA CITY, October 14th, 2015 (EFE) Guatemalan authorities on Tuesday announced the suspension of the search for people missing in an Oct. 1 landslide that killed at least 280 people in a town near this capital.

The executive secretary of the National Coordinator for the Reduction of Disasters, or Conred, Alejandro Maldonado, said that search operations for the 70 people missing after a hillside collapsed will be suspended on Tuesday afternoon.

“The Council agreed to the suspension of search operations and ordered that (authorities) continue working on the stabilization of the area,” said Maldonado at a press conference.

The tragedy struck the town of El Cambray II, very near Guatemala City, and shocked the nation, which has closely watched the dramatic aftermath including the deaths or disappearance of whole families under tons of earth.

Hundreds of emergency personnel supported by heavy machinery have devoted almost two weeks to the search operations in a zone where the earth is very unstable and under rainy conditions that several times have forced them to temporarily halt their work.

Maldonado added on Tuesday that the decision to suspend the search operations will inaugurate a phase of providing additional help to people who lost their homes and who are being housed in emergency shelters.

“What’s going to change is the methodology and the way in which the entire effort will be coordinated. The command post will suspend operations and full control will be transferred to the Municipal Emergency Operations Center located in Santa Catarina Pinula,” Maldonado said.

He also announced that the Council had agreed to authorize a subsidy to some 184 families affected by the disaster so that they can put themselves into a better living situation.

The head of the emergency organization said that the number of families receiving the subsidy may vary, given that a list of those who suffered property damage or loss must still be refined.

He also said that no decision had yet been made on declaring the site of the landslide to be a cemetery because that is a decision that is the prerogative of the Municipal Council of Santa Catarina Pinula.