By Edna Alcantara and Wu Hao
JUCHITAN, Mexico, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- In the wake of Mexico's strongest earthquake in nearly 100 years, the residents of the small, mostly indigenous town of Juchitan are trying to piece their lives back together.
Located in Oaxaca, one of two southern states most affected by Thursday night's 8.2-magnitude temblor, the town of nearly 75,000 inhabitants was devastated. Even part of the historic City Hall building was toppled to the ground.
So far, 90 people have been confirmed dead in three states, and more than a third of them died in Juchitan.
Each day, town residents, many of whom are sleeping outside their homes in case an aftershock causes still standing walls and roofs to cave in, get up to face the daunting task of rebuilding amid shortages of food, water, medicine and electricity.
Along the streets of Melchor Ocampo and Cinco de Mayo, which were left in ruins, residents sift through the piles of brick and broken roof tiles, trying to salvage what they can.
"Thank god the whole family was able to get out and we didn't lose more than our belongings, but we have to retrieve as much as we can from all of this," says Adrian as he stands amid the rubble.
Rescue teams are still working to rescue potential survivors trapped under collapsed buildings. Army troops, the civil protection agency, and members of Mexico's elite search and rescue brigade "Los Topos," aided by rescue dogs, are digging through the mounds, especially in the central square, where City Hall fell.
The teams were able to retrieve the body of a police officer who was killed when the building collapsed.
"After 36 hours ... we were finally able to locate the body of the police officer," the coordinator of the nine-member Los Topos squad from the state of Veracruz, Victor Ruiz, told Xinhua.
Ruiz is expecting 30 more volunteers from different parts of the country, mainly to aid residents comb through the wreckage, as well as provide medical and psychological help.
"Our job is to keep working until the people are in a better condition," said Ruiz, dressed in an orange jumpsuit with a small insignia of Mexico's flag.
In another part of town, water and electricity have not been restored and help has yet to arrive.
Here, homemaker Ana Figenia Ruiz dusts off "the little clothing I have left," while her two children, 14-year-old Ana and 10-year-old Pablo, string up a laundry line in the patio to hang up some sheets donated by neighbors.
"This blasted earthquake destroyed the little we had," said Ruiz, at once defiant and saddened.
Two blocks away, she has some relatives in the same situation, only they are also mourning the loss of a loved one.
"We have all had it rough, but they have had it worse," said Ruiz.
Some 300 residents are currently camped out at a football field, where they are being supplied with food and water. Scores of others are sleeping on the street in front of their homes, afraid of leaving the little that remains unattended.
The situation is dire, but Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto visited the town following the quake to see the extent of the damage firsthand, and since then a string of officials have filed through, to assess the damage to public schools, housing and health centers.
The general hospital and many town pharmacies were destroyed, making it difficult to treat the approximately 300 people injured in the quake.
Putting the quake behind them won't be easy, especially as hundreds of aftershocks of varying intensities continue to register in south and central Mexico, but Juchitan's residents are working on it.
