Grim rites in Mexico
Storm, quake tolls rise
Slow-moving funeral processions converged on cemeteries in Juchitan, Mexico, from all directions on Saturday, so many that they caused temporary gridlock when they met at intersections.
A monster earthquake and Hurricane Katia have combined to take at least 66 lives in Mexico, and no place suffered more than the city of Juchitan in Oaxaca state, where 36 people died as buildings collapsed in the magnitude 8.1 disaster.
The graveyard swelled with mourners and blaring serenades for the dead — the sounds of snare drums, saxophones and sobbing. Pallbearers carried the caskets around rubble that the quake had knocked from concrete crypts. Jittery amid continued aftershocks, friends and relatives of the deceased had hushed conversations in the Zapotec language as they stood under umbrellas for shade.
Paulo Cesar Escamilla Matus and his family held a memorial service for his mother, Reynalda Matus Martinez, in the living room of her home, where relatives wept beside her body.
The 64-year-old woman was working the night shift at a neighborhood pharmacy when the quake struck Thursday night, collapsing the building.
In addition to the deaths in Juchitan, the quake killed nine other people in Oaxaca and 19 in neighboring states. Two others died in a mudslide in the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz after Hurricane Katia hit late Friday.
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto declared three days of national mourning Saturday, and said authorities were working to re-establish supplies of water and food and provide medical attention.
Power was cut to more than 1.8 million people due to the quake, and authorities closed schools in 11 states to check them for safety.
The Interior Department reported that 428 homes were destroyed and 1,700 were damaged in Chiapas state.
A day later, Hurricane Katia hit land north of Tecolutla in Veracruz, pelting the region with rains and sustained winds of 75 mph.
More than 4,000 people evacuated parts of Veracruz and the neighboring state of Puebla ahead of the storm’s arrival.
The Hurricane Center said Katia could still bring 3 to 6 inches of additional rain to a region with a history of deadly mudslides and flooding.