Six days after a devastating 7.1 earthquake rocked Mexico City, family members of those still trapped under the rubble continue to hold out hope.
In Mexico City alone, at least 186 people are confirmed dead, and at least 44 are still missing or unaccounted for at the last official search and rescue site, an office building located at 286 Álvaro Obregón Avenue.
“We’re going to wait here, we’re not moving, and we hope that you are alive, we believe that you are alive and we’re expecting you with open arms.” said Armando Albarrán, whose niece is still believed to be trapped under the collapsed structure.
Albarrán is one of over 100 family members and loved ones staged outside the building, most of which have constructed camps with tents, complete with tarps hanging overhead to keep them dry as the rain falls periodically each day.
While survival for those trapped becomes a faint reality after several days without food or water, it is not an impossibility.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department is one of many international aid entities that has deployed its task force to Mexico City to assist in rescue and recovery efforts.
“The will of a human being to live outweighs anything else,” said U.S. Task Force leader Dennis Cross, who told Fox News he has seen miracles happen before.
Cross was deployed to Haiti in the beginning of 2010, and said that he and his team rescued survivors up to nine days after being initially trapped.
“We’re never going to stop searching, and we don’t give up hope until we think there is no further chance of survivability. We’re not there yet,” Cross said.
Albarrán and the families of the missing aren’t there yet, either.
“We are not giving up,” he said, “and we hope not just that my niece survives, but all the people survive.”
