| Page 2 of 2 < |
After Five Days, Hope for Miracles Is Slipping Away
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
"Only I can make myself happy," her sweat shirt said.
Two men came by, gruffly ordering her to regain control. For a while she did, sitting up straight and watching the rescuers dig. But then the sobbing started again, and her chest resumed its shaking. The two men, more gently this time, sought to calm her grief.
We can recognize him from the clothes he was wearing, they told each other. When a police officer stepped over to ask who could identify the body, both men volunteered.
"His clothes," they told the officer. "His clothes. We will recognize the clothes."
The face, they had been warned, looked like it had been smashed beyond recognition.
The rescuers brought in a motorized saw to cut off a concrete beam. They tugged at reinforcement rods sticking out of the concrete. But still the rubble refused to relinquish its prey.
The steam shovel purred back to life and the rescue team backed away. Whirring about, the shovel knocked off a concrete beam. It pushed away another pile of rubble, dropping trash into the street in a cloud of dust. Spectators and idle rescue teams retreated.
A soldier, meanwhile, walked along spraying disinfectant on whatever he encountered. A few yards away, a body lay in the street. The dusty rubble of collapsed buildings blocked streets. So many buildings were damaged, a resident said, that "there's nothing left to do but knock them all down."
The rescuers moved back in at the ruined bank. They were getting close; a young policeman brought over a yellow plastic body bag. Another alighted from a four-wheel-drive vehicle, climbed up the debris and poured lime from a plastic sack.
But when they finally pulled the body free, they discovered it was only a small piece. Tenderly, they put what they had into the body bag. For the rest, they would have to keep digging.
