Meet Los Topos, Mexico’s Heroic Volunteer Rescuers

Los Topos (moles) emerged as a volunteer rescue brigade during this Mexico City’s devastating earthquake on September 19, 1985. They got to work once again on September 19, 2017, when a 7.1 quake hit Mexico once again, on the 32nd anniversary of their first heroic efforts.

Without tools or experience, they became national heroes by risking their lives entering dangerous zones to rescue quake survivors back in 1985. They gained much-deserved fame in Mexico and years later they obtained ONU certification and recognition around the world.

They have assisted after earthquakes in Japan (1995), Colombia (1999), Haiti (2010) and Nepal (2015), among others, and in Indonesia after the 2004 tsunami. They travel with small tools (pickaxes and saws) and operate as a charity without state or private links.

Los Topos formed in the wake of the devastating earthquake of 1985 as civilian volunteers that went to the streets with few tools or experience and helped with the rescue efforts, much like the thousands of volunteers helping out right now in Mexico City, Puebla, and Morelos (photo: Archivo Fotográfico de la Nación).

After the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, Los Topos headed to New York to help look for bodies at ground zero. Now, they are dealing with another deadly quake on home turf in a test of what they have learned over the years and Mexico City’s progress in disaster preparedness.

Members of Los Topos, the Mexican navy and marines, and other groups have been burrowing into the ruins after the country’s second major earthquake in less than two weeks. Some members of Los Topos said they were on the street within an hour.

Sometimes, bodies are gently placed on the ground. Some rescue group members say a brief prayer. Counselors are available before they return to the piles of debris, and the chance of reaching survivors diminishes with each day.

Starting out as a volunteer group responding to the needs of the hour, Los Topos formalized in 1986 and are now registered with the United Nations. Here, Los Topos members form an honor guard on Tuesday to commemorate the 32nd anniversary of the 1985 Mexico City earthquake. Soon after this photo was taken, another disastrous quake struck the city (photo: EPA).

Hector Méndez, who started a branch of Los Topos after the 1985 quake, said he had just returned from the United States where he assisted in relief efforts in Clearwater, Florida, and Key West after Hurricane Irma.

After Tuesday’s quake, he and his comrades persuaded motorcycle police to rush them to the ruins of the Enrique Rebsamen school in the south of Mexico City where at least 25 people died, many of them children, when the building collapsed.

Méndez said: “The children, most times, they have more chance to live than we the old people. The boys, they want to be alive and I know that. And that is why we are here working hard.

There are two chapters of Los Topos Mexico: Tlatelolco and Azteca. Members of Los Topos Tlatelolco, another chapter of the heroic group, looking through the rubble at Mexico City’s university Tec of Monterrey, which suffered major damages (photo: Twitter).

It’s important to point out that Los Topos Tlatelolco and Azteca are two separate chapters of the group, the former accepts donations while the latter does not. Both of them are doing an incredible job at rescue efforts. If you want to help Los Topos Tlatelolco keep up the efforts, consider donating through their Paypal.

There could be people trapped in at least 10 buildings in Mexico City, President Enrique Peña Nieto said Thursday. Search and rescue efforts continue.