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Grief In Mexico City While It Recovers From Earthquake

Attendants to a memorial ceremony at Tec de Monterrey Mexico City Campus hold their fists and flowers up in silence.
Rodrigo Cervantes
Attendants to a memorial ceremony at Tec de Monterrey Mexico City Campus hold their fists and flowers up in silence.

MEXICO CITY — Mexico is struggling with the aftermath of last week’s earthquakes. Official reports say the death toll has risen to 325 people; 186 in Mexico City alone.

And at the country’s capital, while some try to reset everything, others still grieve. 

Some offices and apartment buildings finally reopened in Mexico City after last Tuesday’s earthquake, but thousands more haven’t been inspected yet. 

Only about 1 percent of schools started to operate normally. And at the Tec de Monterrey Mexico City Campus college, the gates of the football field opened again, only for a memorial service.

Two speakers repeat the names of the five students who died at the earthquake: Edgar Michel Lazano Gonzalez, Alejandro Meza Guerrero, Rubén Ortiz García, Luis Manuel Pacheco Ruiz Rosales and Juan Carlos Álvarez Díaz González

After saying each name, people yelled in response: "¡Siempre Tec!" Forever Tec.

The attendants, all dressed up in white, held flowers and fists up in the air in silence, to show them respect.

The campus will remain closed by rest of the year. Those who survived, just like many other inhabitants of Mexico City, are trying to go back to their normal lives, but still dealing with the physical and emotional debris left by the earthquake.

Student Carla García spoke on behalf of her community. And her voice was breaking, but not her spirit.

"We were broken hearts. We are broken hearts," she said.

Rodrigo Cervantes was KJZZ’s bureau chief in Mexico City from 2016 to 2021.