On every avenue, the riches of homes and stores sit tempting looters who dare not enter the quake-damaged buildings for fear they will collapse. There are gaping holes in the sides of a buildings. I've seen all of a family's possession just sitting there, often untouched because the buildings are quite unsafe and could fall down at any time. I've seen an office building with one wall gone but the rooms and their contents inside perfectly intact. Maher said water bubbles up into the streets in places where mains have been broken by the quake.
Women sit on their knees washing clothes in the flow.
The loss is also tragic in a community without clean water. Maher and other World Vision staff were stopped in their tracks by the depressed countenance of Deysi Lorena who sat with her three children on a sidewalk. Her youngest child is five month olds. Behind them was a heap of rubble which had been their home in the poor district of El Mirador. Anywhere else in the world their elevated view of the town would make their home prime real estate.