Mexican rescuers have saved lives in disaster zones around the world. Now they're in Florida.

[Judi Lynn]

Rescue crews look for survivors Sunday in the rubble of the collapsed Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Fla. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)
By
Paulina Villegas
June 29, 2021 at 6:50 p.m. CDT


In the early hours of Sept. 19, 1985, a roar woke millions of residents in the vast urban sprawl of Mexico City as a magnitude-8.1 earthquake rattled the city, toppling hundreds of buildings and trapping thousands of people under piles of rubble.

To help deal with the widespread devastation, a group of volunteers rushed to the collapsed houses and buildings across the city, and particularly to a working-class neighborhood to help overwhelmed authorities search for and rescue victims.

Los Topos, Spanish for “the moles,” was born then as a group of volunteers who offer rescue efforts and emergency relief wherever help is needed. The group has since been involved in virtually every major natural disaster in Mexico and many others around the world, and it has splintered into several different groups over the years.

Heroes at home, Los Topos Azteca arrived Monday in South Florida, joining local firefighters and other teams of experts in taking on the colossal task of combing through hillocks of rubble and concrete chunks in search of life after a condominium building along the beachfront of Surfside, Fla., collapsed Thursday. At least 12 people have been confirmed dead and 149 are still missing.

. . .

Méndez, a 74-year-old accountant, said the Topos brigade has participated in rescue efforts in more than 70 operations across five continents — including 2010′s collapse of a mine in Chile, tsunami in Indonesia and earthquake in Haiti, as well as the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

More:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/06/29/mexico-rescuers-condo-collapse/