Specialized disaster response crews were combing the area west of Athens Monday for two men missing from last week's flash floods that killed at least 20 people, while the government announced relief measures for those whose homes or businesses were damaged.
Two women try to clean graves from mud at the damaged cemetery of Mandra town, west of Athens, on Saturday, Nov. 18, 2017. Greek authorities say three more people have been found dead from a flash flood that hit a district west of Athens, raising the overall death toll to 19. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis)
The search operation was concentrating on the Mandra area west of the Greek capital, the hardest hit by Wednesday's disaster, which was among the worst to have hit the wider Athens area in decades.
Click to Gallery
Specialized disaster response crews were combing the area west of Athens Monday for two men missing from last week's flash floods that killed at least 20 people, while the government announced relief measures for those whose homes or businesses were damaged.
The search operation was concentrating on the Mandra area west of the Greek capital, the hardest hit by Wednesday's disaster, which was among the worst to have hit the wider Athens area in decades.
Nearly 1,000 buildings were damaged, most of them private houses, as well as businesses, storage areas and public buildings.
A resident stands at the entrance of his shop as a bulldozer collects debris at Mandra town, west of Athens, on Saturday, Nov. 18, 2017. Greek authorities say three more people have been found dead from a flash flood that hit a district west of Athens, raising the overall death toll to 19. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis)
Workers work to remove a car from the entrance of a house in the town of Mandra, western Athens, on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2017. A major flash flood on Wednesday left at least 16 people dead, turned streets into torrents of mud and debris that swept away cars, collapsed walls and submerged parts of a major highway. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
The flash floods turned roads into raging torrents of mud and debris that flung cars against buildings, inundated homes and businesses and cut a section of a major highway. Those who died drowned in their homes or were swept away by the floodwater.
Clothes are covered with mud inside a house at Mandra town, west of Athens, Saturday, Nov. 18, 2017. Greek authorities say three more people have been found dead from a flash flood that hit a district west of Athens, raising the overall death toll to 19. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis)
Nearly 1,000 buildings were damaged, most of them private houses, as well as businesses, storage areas and public buildings.
Government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos announced emergency aid for those affected, including a tax-free benefit of 5,000 euros per damaged household and 8,000 euros per damaged business.
A man stands between debris as two women try to clean a shop from mud at Mandra town, west of Athens, Saturday, Nov. 18, 2017. Greek authorities say three more people have been found dead from a flash flood that hit a district west of Athens this week raising the overall death toll to 19. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis)
A resident stands at the entrance of his shop as a bulldozer collects debris at Mandra town, west of Athens, on Saturday, Nov. 18, 2017. Greek authorities say three more people have been found dead from a flash flood that hit a district west of Athens, raising the overall death toll to 19. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis)
Workers work to remove a car from the entrance of a house in the town of Mandra, western Athens, on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2017. A major flash flood on Wednesday left at least 16 people dead, turned streets into torrents of mud and debris that swept away cars, collapsed walls and submerged parts of a major highway. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
TEPOTZOTLAN, Mexico (AP) — Dozens of women and men searched a garbage dump outside Mexico’s capital Friday looking for signs of missing loved ones, working without the protection of authorities as part of a nationwide effort to raise the profile of those who risk their lives to find others.
Under a blazing sun and amid foul odors, they picked through the dump and other sites in the town of Tepotzotlan in Mexico state, which hugs Mexico City on three sides.
Hundreds of collectives across Mexico are participating in search operations this weekend to draw attention to the work they are left to do without official help in a country with nearly 100,000 people registered as missing.
The work is dangerous. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has documented nine cases since 2019 of women who were slain over their work hunting for missing relatives. Other organizations in Mexico have recorded even more cases.
The groups participating this weekend decided to forgo government protection as a way to protest authorities’ frequent indifference to disappearances.
“We feel abandoned by the state to respond to this situation, which is a real national emergency,” some 250 collectives making up the National Unification of Searching Families said in a statement.
Juan Carlos Trujillo Herrera has been searching for four brothers who disappeared in Guerrero and Veracruz states more than a decade ago. He said uniting search collectives across Mexico raises consciousness.
“With the state, without the state and beyond the state, no one has to stop” searching, he said.
In the work at the dump Friday, searchers used a backhoe as well shovels and picks to dig through debris. Metal rods were pushed into ground and then sniffed for the scent of death.
While disappearances have plagued Mexico for decades, the phenomenon exploded in 2006 when authorities declared war on the drug cartels. For years, the government looked the other way as violence increased and families of the missing were forced to remain silent or carefully search for their relatives.
The administration of current President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has invested in creating a national database of the missing and the National Search Commission for Missing Persons.
But he drew the ire of many families and advocates last year by ordering a recount of the missing. It was seen as an effort to lower Mexico’s embarrassingly high total and it did, moving from some 113,000 last year to a revised total of just short of 100,000.
A relative searches for missing loved ones in a clandestine grave in Zumpango, Mexico, Friday, April 19, 2024. Hundreds of collectives searching for missing loved ones fanned out across Mexico on Friday as part of a coordinated effort to raise the profile of efforts that are led by the families of the tens of thousands of missing across Mexico without support from the government. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
A relative searches for missing loved ones in a clandestine grave in Zumpango, Mexico, Friday, April 19, 2024. Hundreds of collectives searching for missing loved ones fanned out across Mexico on Friday as part of a coordinated effort to raise the profile of efforts that are led by the families of the tens of thousands of missing across Mexico without support from the government. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
A relative searches for missing loved ones in a clandestine grave in Zumpango, Mexico, Friday, April 19, 2024. Hundreds of collectives searching for missing loved ones fanned out across Mexico on Friday as part of a coordinated effort to raise the profile of efforts that are led by the families of the tens of thousands of missing across Mexico without support from the government. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
Relatives search for their missing loved ones in a clandestine grave in Zumpango, Mexico, Friday, April 19, 2024. Hundreds of collectives searching for missing loved ones fanned out across Mexico on Friday as part of a coordinated effort to raise the profile of efforts that are led by the families of the tens of thousands of missing across Mexico without support from the government. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
A relative stands by as a mechanical shovel removes earth from a clandestine grave during a search for missing loved ones, in Tepotzotlán, Mexico, Friday, April 19, 2024. Hundreds of collectives searching for missing loved ones fanned out across Mexico on Friday as part of a coordinated effort to raise the profile of efforts that are led by the families of the tens of thousands of missing across Mexico without support from the government. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
A relative stands by as a mechanical shovel removes earth from a clandestine grave during a search for missing loved ones, in Tepotzotlán, Mexico, Friday, April 19, 2024. Hundreds of collectives searching for missing loved ones fanned out across Mexico on Friday as part of a coordinated effort to raise the profile of efforts that are led by the families of the tens of thousands of missing across Mexico without support from the government. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
A relative joins in a search for missing loved ones in Zumpango, Mexico, Friday, April 19, 2024. Hundreds of collectives searching for missing loved ones fanned out across Mexico on Friday as part of a coordinated effort to raise the profile of efforts that are led by the families of the tens of thousands of missing across Mexico without support from the government. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
Maria Herrera, center, searches for her disappeared children, two who went missing in Guerrero in 2008 and two who went missing in Veracruz in 2010, in Zumpango, Mexico, Friday, April 19, 2024. Hundreds of collectives searching for missing loved ones fanned out across Mexico on Friday as part of a coordinated effort to raise the profile of efforts that are led by the families of the tens of thousands of missing across Mexico without support from the government. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
Relatives search for their missing loved ones in a clandestine grave in Zumpango, Mexico, Friday, April 19, 2024. Hundreds of collectives searching for missing loved ones fanned out across Mexico on Friday as part of a coordinated effort to raise the profile of efforts that are led by the families of the tens of thousands of missing across Mexico without support from the government. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
Relatives search for their missing loved ones in a clandestine grave in Zumpango, Mexico, Friday, April 19, 2024. Hundreds of collectives searching for missing loved ones fanned out across Mexico on Friday as part of a coordinated effort to raise the profile of efforts that are led by the families of the tens of thousands of missing across Mexico without support from the government. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
