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🇵🇾 Paraguay /Disasters & Emergencies

Cali Remembers Earthquake Victims With a Candlelight Vigil

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth From a news agency Outcome reported
  • Families and neighbors in Cali held a candlelight vigil for victims of the building collapse caused by the August 10 magnitude 7.4 earthquake.
  • Photographs projected on a wall honored the victims, including 11-year-old Ileana Giraldo Aponte.
  • Survivor Carlos Rebolledo, rescued after 21 hours, recalled being trapped in the building and called his survival a miracle.

As evening fell in Cali, candles gathered around the empty space where the six-story Torres del Limonar building once stood. Families and neighbors brought flowers, photographs and memories to honor those who died when the structure collapsed during the magnitude 7.4 earthquake on August 10.

Photographs of the victims were projected onto a wall, alongside messages recalling the lives they had led before the building came down. One image showed Ileana Giraldo Aponte, an 11-year-old girl. Her father, Alexander Giraldo, spent the first week after the earthquake dressed as a rescuer, searching for her under tons of concrete. He found her dead.

It is still hard for me to feel this absence. I try to understand how I went from embracing her, from having her beside me, to her now living in a file, a memory.

· Alexander GiraldoIleana’s father described his grief during the candlelight vigil.

For 25 days afterward, he returned to the ruins to look for something that had belonged to Ileana. At the vigil, he watched a photograph of his daughter, taken eight days before the disaster, projected with butterfly wings.

Several neighbors were leaving through the hallway. Just as I was about to press the emergency button to open the door, the building fell on top of us. In ten seconds, we could have gotten out alive.

· Carlos RebolledoThe survivor recalled the moment the building collapsed around him.

“It is still hard for me to feel this absence. I try to understand how I went from embracing her, from having her beside me, to her now living in a file, a memory,” Alexander told EFE.

Carlos Rebolledo, who survived the collapse and was rescued 21 hours later, also spoke at the gathering. “Several neighbors were leaving through the hallway. Just as I was about to press the emergency button to open the door, the building fell on top of us. In ten seconds, we could have gotten out alive,” he said. Still recovering from scrapes, he added, “Today I believe in God more than ever because, despite the pain of my loss, what happened to me is a miracle.”

Today I believe in God more than ever because, despite the pain of my loss, what happened to me is a miracle.

· Carlos RebolledoRebolledo described his survival after being rescued from the collapse.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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