January 29, 1999
By Karen Testa
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida - Efforts to send emergency aid and supplies to an earthquake ravaged community in Colombia began to mobilize throughout the United States and in Mexico on Tuesday as the death toll rose to more than 1,000.
From the New York City borough of Queens to Little Havana, a neighborhood in Miami, cardboard boxes were left on sidewalks and in storefronts to collect donations. A magnitude 6 quake crumbled nearly two-thirds of the western Colombian city of Armenia's buildings on Monday afternoon.
The mood was somber at the Monserrate restaurant in Miami, a popular eatery and gathering spot for Colombians living in South Florida.
``We're very united, and very sad,'' said Jairo Lozano, who came to the United States 25 years ago from the Colombian capital of Bogota. ``There's a box here where people are dropping things off ... food, canned goods, diapers for the children, medicine. We'll pack it up and send it off.''
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue's Urban Search and Rescue Task Force - the same team recognized for its work in the Oklahoma City bombing took off Tuesday to sift through the destruction. The 64-person team, equipped with 56,000 pounds (25,400 kilograms) of gear, will remain in the area about a week.
In New York City, phone lines to the Colombian consulate were flooded with callers worried about relatives, but there was little information available.
Hundreds of others phoned the New York offices of the Colombian RCN radio and television network, which is broadcasting rescue efforts and updating local viewers with lists of survivors.
``Everybody's crying over here,'' said Sandra Castaneda, who works at the station. ``People are bringing food, medicine. It's been absolutely crazy.''
In the Jackson Heights section of Queens, which is home to many Colombians, shopkeepers set out boxes early in the day so people could donate clothes and other necessities.
Marisol Munoz, 28, whose father lives in Armenia, said she was finally able to talk to him early in the day after hours of trying.
``I was trying to get him all day Monday but couldn't,'' she said. ``At night, I woke up every hour to call him. Finally, he called me and said he was all right.''
In Mexico, the Defense Secretariat announced it would send two C-130 Hercules jets to Colombia on Tuesday. The planes were to carry a 105-man army search team, 18 sniffer dogs and five power generators.
A list of agencies assisting in the Colombian earthquake:
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