Photos: Six months after Mexico quake residents still camp outside homes

By HT Correspondent

Updated On Mar 22, 2018 12:52 pm IST

Under a patchwork shelter of overlapping tarps and repurposed vinyl advertisements, several dozen residents of 18 Independence Street pack cheek by jowl into donated tents on the street near their building, which was damaged in the September 19, 2017 earthquake. Six months after the temblor, improvised camps like it, erected by displaced residents are among the most visible signs that not everyone has moved on from the earthquake that killed 228 people in Mexico City and 141 more elsewhere.

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Residents chat outside a shelter in a park, six months after the September 19, 2017 earthquake damaged their housing complex leaving hundreds in housing limbo, waiting for damaged buildings to be either repaired or condemned, in Mexico City. Camps right by their damaged homes, erected by displaced residents are among the most visible signs that not everyone has moved on. (Rebecca Blackwell / AP)

Updated on Mar 22, 2018 12:52 pm IST

Residents chat outside a shelter in a park, six months after the September 19, 2017 earthquake damaged their housing complex leaving hundreds in housing limbo, waiting for damaged buildings to be either repaired or condemned, in Mexico City. Camps right by their damaged homes, erected by displaced residents are among the most visible signs that not everyone has moved on. (Rebecca Blackwell / AP)

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Luz Maria Alvarez Lopez, is reflected in a mirror which adorns her apartment’s front door, in a damaged building at Independencia 18 in Mexico City where her family occupied four homes. Mexico City Reconstruction Commissioner Edgar Oswaldo Tungui Rodriguez said there are 27 such camps around the capital, but denied people were living in them. Rather, he said, quake victims had just posted guards to watch over property. (Rebecca Blackwell / AP)

Updated on Mar 22, 2018 12:52 pm IST

Luz Maria Alvarez Lopez, is reflected in a mirror which adorns her apartment’s front door, in a damaged building at Independencia 18 in Mexico City where her family occupied four homes. Mexico City Reconstruction Commissioner Edgar Oswaldo Tungui Rodriguez said there are 27 such camps around the capital, but denied people were living in them. Rather, he said, quake victims had just posted guards to watch over property. (Rebecca Blackwell / AP)

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Children sleep in a shelter built against the external wall of a house, in a tent camp outside a damaged building in Mexico City. Despite living on the street, daily life continues, with children attending school and adults heading to work daily. Residents say security in the neighbourhoods is a problem, and one reported occasionally hearing gunshots in the night. (Rebecca Blackwell / AP)

Updated on Mar 22, 2018 12:52 pm IST

Children sleep in a shelter built against the external wall of a house, in a tent camp outside a damaged building in Mexico City. Despite living on the street, daily life continues, with children attending school and adults heading to work daily. Residents say security in the neighbourhoods is a problem, and one reported occasionally hearing gunshots in the night. (Rebecca Blackwell / AP)

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A woman eats a meal provided by volunteers inside a damaged building in southern Mexico City. Six months after the quake, some families with nowhere else to go have moved back in to their apartments in damaged buildings, as they continue to wait for a verdict on whether the structures can be repaired and how long that process might take. (Rebecca Blackwell / AP)

Updated on Mar 22, 2018 12:52 pm IST

A woman eats a meal provided by volunteers inside a damaged building in southern Mexico City. Six months after the quake, some families with nowhere else to go have moved back in to their apartments in damaged buildings, as they continue to wait for a verdict on whether the structures can be repaired and how long that process might take. (Rebecca Blackwell / AP)

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An eight-story apartment building is demolished at Toluca 43 in the Roma Sur neighbourhood of Mexico City. In a sense, those whose buildings collapsed totally were luckier; there is no dispute about demolition, and the government has offered self-financing in some cases to rebuild on existing lots, with developers selling off extra units to pay for reconstruction. (Rebecca Blackwell / AP)

Updated on Mar 22, 2018 12:52 pm IST

An eight-story apartment building is demolished at Toluca 43 in the Roma Sur neighbourhood of Mexico City. In a sense, those whose buildings collapsed totally were luckier; there is no dispute about demolition, and the government has offered self-financing in some cases to rebuild on existing lots, with developers selling off extra units to pay for reconstruction. (Rebecca Blackwell / AP)

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Movers prepare to lower a couch through the missing windows of an apartment inside the condemned “Great Bear” building in Mexico City. Several of the 15-story apartment towers which survived the 1985 earthquake and were known locally as the “Soldominios,” a nickname combining the Spanish words for soldier and condominium were damaged in September. Workers rubbled many simply with pickaxes. (Rebecca Blackwell / AP)

Updated on Mar 22, 2018 12:52 pm IST

Movers prepare to lower a couch through the missing windows of an apartment inside the condemned “Great Bear” building in Mexico City. Several of the 15-story apartment towers which survived the 1985 earthquake and were known locally as the “Soldominios,” a nickname combining the Spanish words for soldier and condominium were damaged in September. Workers rubbled many simply with pickaxes. (Rebecca Blackwell / AP)

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A boy living with his family in a tent camp on the street fetches his bike from inside a their damaged building at Independencia 18. Despite sunken floors and caved-in walls, residents need to enter daily to use the bathroom, shower, and retrieve stored belongings. (Rebecca Blackwell / AP)

Updated on Mar 22, 2018 12:52 pm IST

A boy living with his family in a tent camp on the street fetches his bike from inside a their damaged building at Independencia 18. Despite sunken floors and caved-in walls, residents need to enter daily to use the bathroom, shower, and retrieve stored belongings. (Rebecca Blackwell / AP)

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A man carries a bookshelf down a staircase with gaps that have been covered with boards. Displaced residents received 3,000 pesos ($160) each month for the first three months from the government. The idea was that they would rent apartments elsewhere. But residents say that wasn’t enough and they fear looters will clear out their possessions if they leave. (Rebecca Blackwell / AP)

Updated on Mar 22, 2018 12:52 pm IST

A man carries a bookshelf down a staircase with gaps that have been covered with boards. Displaced residents received 3,000 pesos ($160) each month for the first three months from the government. The idea was that they would rent apartments elsewhere. But residents say that wasn’t enough and they fear looters will clear out their possessions if they leave. (Rebecca Blackwell / AP)

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Residents of a damaged building gather for a hot dinner brought by volunteers in the tent camp where they have been living outside their building in Mexico City. At first there was a lot of solidarity. Some let neighbours use their bathrooms and shared food. But as days turned to weeks and then months, sentiments shifted. (Rebecca Blackwell / AP)

Updated on Mar 22, 2018 12:52 pm IST

Residents of a damaged building gather for a hot dinner brought by volunteers in the tent camp where they have been living outside their building in Mexico City. At first there was a lot of solidarity. Some let neighbours use their bathrooms and shared food. But as days turned to weeks and then months, sentiments shifted. (Rebecca Blackwell / AP)

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Teenagers pass time on a cell phone outside their damaged residence. Neighbours have been collecting signatures for a petition to have the tent camps at Independencia removed from the narrow street, which has been blocked since September. People have stolen gas tanks used to heat food. Cars have come close to driving through them. Some neighbours have ostracized them, others hurl insults. (Rebecca Blackwell / AP)

Updated on Mar 22, 2018 12:52 pm IST

Teenagers pass time on a cell phone outside their damaged residence. Neighbours have been collecting signatures for a petition to have the tent camps at Independencia removed from the narrow street, which has been blocked since September. People have stolen gas tanks used to heat food. Cars have come close to driving through them. Some neighbours have ostracized them, others hurl insults. (Rebecca Blackwell / AP)

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A resident holds up a sign that read “13:14:40, six months 19S,” referring to the time and day of the earthquake. People who lost homes and businesses have been protesting the slow rate of progress with demolitions and repairs. Only a handful of the highest risk buildings have so far been torn down, with others yet to receive any answer at all over their fates. (Rebecca Blackwell / AP)

Updated on Mar 22, 2018 12:52 pm IST

A resident holds up a sign that read “13:14:40, six months 19S,” referring to the time and day of the earthquake. People who lost homes and businesses have been protesting the slow rate of progress with demolitions and repairs. Only a handful of the highest risk buildings have so far been torn down, with others yet to receive any answer at all over their fates. (Rebecca Blackwell / AP)

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Maria Patricia Rodriguez Gonzalez packs up her wares, at the tent camp where she has been living all these months. Before the quake, she sold soda and candy out of a shop in the ground-floor apartment where she lived. “It makes us sad that people insult us without knowing the reality we are living,” she said. “We’re not here because we want to be. We’re here out of necessity.” (Rebecca Blackwell / AP)

Updated on Mar 22, 2018 12:52 pm IST

Maria Patricia Rodriguez Gonzalez packs up her wares, at the tent camp where she has been living all these months. Before the quake, she sold soda and candy out of a shop in the ground-floor apartment where she lived. “It makes us sad that people insult us without knowing the reality we are living,” she said. “We’re not here because we want to be. We’re here out of necessity.” (Rebecca Blackwell / AP)

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