Spanish/Nat
Ten years after a massive earthquake left Mexico City almost in ruins, the family of a newborn baby who survived ten days under the rubble recounted their desperate ordeal.
“Miracle Baby” Jesus Antonio Castillo is now ten years old and lives an active normal life. Yet he still bears physical and psychological scars from the experience.
Ten years ago Tuesday four-day-old Jesus Antonio Castillo’s world collapsed from above and dropped from below.
For the next ten days the newborn infant lay in the rubble of Mexico City’s collapsed General Hospital after a massive earthquake shook the capital on September 19, 1985 killing more than six-thousand people.
Somehow Jesus Antonio survived. The baby managed a cry which led rescuers to him. A large beam lay across his crib and it took rescuers several hours to free him.
He was nicknamed the “Miracle Baby” hospitalised for 44 days and sent home.
Jesus Antonio is now ten years old. He attends a private school thanks to a fund established to help children harmed by the quake.
His mother said she did not lose hope.
SOUNDBITE: (In Spanish)
“Those ten days were eternal. I wanted to go out and look for my son through the rubble from the centre.”
SUPER CAPTION: Leonila Medina Hernandez, Jesus Antonio’s mother
The family cherishes a cigar box full of photos and videos of the “Miracle Baby’s” first steps and birthday.
The ten-year old is an active child who likes to play with his father and dog. Yet he bears scars both physically and mentally from the ordeal.
He pulls off his shirt to reveal a deep scar on his back and brushed back his hair to reveal another on his head.
Jesus Antonio’s relatives helped search the rubble after the quake. They checked other hospitals where rescued children had been taken.
Then, on September 29, rescuers brought the good news.
SOUNDBITE: (In Spanish)
“Ten days… On the tenth day, the 29th, at dawn, we were told that they had found him and that we had to go to the Children’s Hospital to identify him. Those were ten days we’ll never forget. I don’t wish that to anyone, because it’s desperate.”
SUPER CAPTION: Ubaldo Castillo Morales, Jesus Antonio’s father
Jesus Antonio still receives psychological help.
And despite the publicity the boy tries to live a normal life playing and putting on the gloves for a few rounds of boxing with his father.
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