Government ineffective and irresponsible in their response
Even though El Salvador is on a major fault line and has a history of earthquakes (a 7.5 quake in 1986 left 1,000 dead), the country has no national emergency plan. There are no search-and-rescue teams, recovery dogs, or special equipment. In this quake, the official rescue operation began only when international teams arrived from Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, and Spain. One report indicates that the Salvadoran coordination is so bad that when a Mexican rescue squad arrived at the airport Saturday night, no one was there to pick them up. |