The death toll has ascended to 194 people in Mexico City a week after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit the country’s capital and other states from it’s inner region. City authorities informed that 126 of the victims are female and 68 male, with 29 of the them being minors. Only two bodies remain unidentified. Sixty nine persons have been rescued from under the rubble of collapsed buildings.
Mexico City Mayor Miguel Ángel Mancera Espinosa claimed authorities will continue searching for people in need of rescue. “We’ll keep working until the last person is removed from under the rubble,” he said.
Mancer Espinosa also signed the Mexico City Rebuilding, Recovery and Transformation Plan, which will allocate 50 million pesos ($2.8 million) to restore the over 10,000 buildings affected by the earthquake.
The plan, explained Mancera Espinosa, will work as follows: Authorities will create Plataforma CDMX, a platform that will provide assistance to victims who saw their homes or businesses affected by the earthquake. A Social and Economic Emergency Response Pack and a Rebuilding, Recovery and Transformation Commission will also be established.
Plataforma CDMX will be used by authorities as a database that lists pictures, addresses and owners of buildings that suffered any sort of damage. Monetary assistance will be granted depending on the damages suffered by the building. Those classified under a green mark — with minor damages that don’t pose an actual risk — will receive up to 8,000 pesos ($445) for repairs. Yellow marks are for buildings with fallen walls or deeper structural damage; those will be repaired for free. If the building is to be emptied while the repairs are made, the government will provide 3,000 pesos ($166) a month for rent. Rent money will be granted for three months, though the lapse could be extended if need be. In case of buildings being demolished, tenants will be given long-term mortgages with preferential interest rates.
Mancera Espinosa highlighted that rural areas like Xochimilco and Álvaro Obregón will require a different approach to rebuilding because “their buildings are quite different from those in the inner city.”
He also said people could donate to the Reconstrucción CDMX Scotiabank account: 00104503441. Money donated will be used to fund reconstruction efforts, he said.
