Mexican Topos head to Venezuela as quake rescue shifts to recovery

Mexicocity,UPDATED: Jul 2, 2026 00:38 IST

Mexican rescue workers are heading to Venezuela as search efforts continue after one of the country's deadliest natural disasters in modern history. Nearly a week after two powerful earthquakes hit Venezuela's Caribbean coast, authorities said on Wednesday that more than 2,200 people had died and over 11,000 had been injured.

Among those travelling to the disaster zone is German Bello, a 39-year-old volunteer with the Brigada Internacional de Rescate Topos Azteca, one of Mexico's best-known civilian search-and-rescue organisations. As international teams continue to search collapsed apartment buildings and homes in the hard-hit state of La Guaira, hopes of finding more survivors are fading and the mission is increasingly turning towards recovery.

At Mexico City's international airport, Bello, dressed in bright orange, carefully stacked cardboard boxes on a luggage cart before his flight. The boxes contained body bags. Bello said he did not know when he would return home and was carrying rescue gear along with equipment that could be used to recover those killed in the earthquakes.

The Topos Azteca brigade was founded after the devastating 1985 Mexico City earthquake. The non-profit group operates independently and has built an international reputation over four decades for responding to major disasters in Mexico and abroad.

Bello, an electrical engineer who owns a small auto repair shop, is known within the brigade as "La Secre", short for secretary, because he serves as the right-hand man to the group's founder, Hector "El Chino" Mendez. Mendez, 80, helped organise spontaneous civilian rescue efforts after the 1985 earthquake in Mexico City and is already in La Guaira, helping search for the few survivors who may still be trapped under collapsed buildings.

"The hardest part is telling someone that their loved one has died," Bello said.

Rescuers in his team said they must keep their emotions in check once they reach the disaster zone, where staying focused can mean the difference between life and death. "There is no hunger, no heat, no sleep," said volunteer Merry Valencia, who has spent 14 years with the brigade, reciting part of the group's code of conduct. "There is no fear."

Once they assess the stability of collapsed structures, rescuers split into small teams assigned to different sections of the debris. They crawl through narrow openings and voids inside flattened buildings, a practice that gave them the nickname "Topos", or moles. They often use thermal cameras and other specialised equipment to search for signs of life. Armed with shovels, hand hammers and other tools, they remove rubble slowly, inch by inch, trying to avoid causing further collapses.

"We are rescue workers from Mexico. If anyone is alive, make some noise or call out now!" a Mexican Army rescuer shouted on Saturday as he searched the ruins of a collapsed building in La Guaira. Moments later, he raised a clenched fist in the air.

The gesture signals an order for complete silence, a search technique that emerged during the 1985 Mexico City earthquake and was later formalised by the Topos. Versions of the protocol are now used by rescue teams around the world. When the signal spreads through a disaster zone, rescue workers, soldiers, volunteers and journalists stop talking. For a few seconds, there is silence as rescuers listen for any sign of life, using sensitive microphones, telescopic cameras or simply pressing an ear against the rubble in the hope of hearing a voice, a knock or the faintest movement.

Back at the airport in Mexico City, a young man wearing glasses approached Bello after learning that he was travelling to Venezuela and asked if he and his colleague were part of the rescue mission. When Bello said yes, the man broke down in tears. "Thank you for going. My family is in Caracas," Venezuelan engineer Diego Bejarano said.

Bello hugged him tightly. It is likely to be the first of many such moments in the days ahead as he joins other international rescue teams in Venezuela. After Bejarano walked away, Bello wiped tears from his eyes and explained why he keeps volunteering for missions like this. "That's my reward," he said. "Being able to give someone a little hope."

As rescue work in Venezuela moves from the search for survivors to the recovery of the dead, Bello and other volunteers from Mexico are preparing for both tasks, carrying with them the methods, discipline and emotional strain that have defined the Topos since 1985.

With PTI Inputs

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