‘I was hoping my mother would be in the hospital, but they took her out with a backhoe’

outside the wake, Patricio Minango mourns the death of his mother, Rosa Guamán, and his niece Johanna Iza. Inside, neighbors and relatives approach the coffins and say goodbye.

The two women, who lived in a small construction of The communeThey were buried by the flood of last Monday.

He says that that day he went out to do some painting work in Las Casas and that, as soon as he knew what had happened, he went to see his mother. But only found debris.

“After removing a part, we managed to find the body of my niece, that was trapped between the door. My mother didn’t show up. Me I was hoping he was in a hospital somewhere. because they were all being taken to hospitals.”

In the midst of the chaos, Patricio asked and asked, but got no answer about his mother’s whereabouts.

“My sisters went to ask in all the hospitals and found no information. I still I thought I could be in a hospital, but it wasn’t”.

At 10:00 on February 2, rescuers found Rosa’s body. “They took her out with a backhoe from the rubble“, He says. And she starts crying.

The 40-year-old man tries to calm down to continue with the story. He pauses and retreats into memories with his two loved ones of his. His mother was 73 years old and worked doing housework.

“The last thing I remember about my mom is that she told me to go visit her, because I wanted to give my 4-year-old son some cars. That’s what hurts me the most, because I couldn’t go see her. If I went, maybe even I would have been in heaven with her”.

At wake, the chairs were fully occupied. Around those who managed to get a seat there was also a row of people they contemplated the two coffins. A few steps away, a collection center for community leaders received trucks with donations for the victims.

Patricio, in addition to the pain, is weighed down by the indignation with social networks, because he came to know that in a Facebook account they asked for money for their family, without them knowing anything.

The brick house was on the ground lower than the volleyball court was, in the place that received the strongest impact. The entire structure of the court, vehicles, stones and logs that were dragged ended up on the house. That is why it took time to find the bodies.

“My mother lived forty years there, leasing. I went to see and some people things were being removed. I went to look for something from my mother, but nothing. I only have a photo of her that I managed to rescue”.

Patricio does not forget the advice of his mother, who was very religious. And now, despite the sorrow, he is grateful that the coffins were donated and that the cemetery expenses were covered with the help of all family members.

“My mother He told me once to remember him in the good times, in the joys of what she was. I am carrying this in my heart. But I will no longer go where she livedbecause there are many moments… Now there is nothing”.

Patrick sighs and cries. After he ends his story, he stares in the direction of where his mom lived. (I)