By TESSA JAMANDRE
CONDOLENCES have been sent to the families of victims of the New Zealand earthquake, but the mother of a missing nurse says she believes her daughter is still fighting for her life beneath the rubble and is begging authorities not to stop the rescue.
“I’m still positive, I’m still hopeful that Anne is still alive. She is alive,” Linda Amantillo, mother of 23-year-old Mary Louise Anne Amantillo from Iloilo, said in her local dialect. “If only they don’t delay the rescue. Don’t stop. Just continue because nothing is impossible with God.”
On Wednesday, Acting Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario said the 11 Filipino nurses, who include Mary Louise, and all other nationals still missing are now presumed dead.
The government of New Zealand has called off the search for survivors from the 6.3-magnitude earthquake that devastated Christchurch on Feb. 22 and relayed its sympathies to the Philippines. About 200 people are still listed missing, among them students and staff of an English language school housed by the Canterbury Television building that totally collapsed.
But a tearful Amantillo said, “No, please don’t stop the rescue. They haven’t found my daughter yet.”
Appearing on Japan’s public television on Wednesday, she appealed to all countries helping in the rescue to find her daughter.
Amantillo is drawing hope from the messages Mary Louise sent her hours after she was trapped in a building when the earthquake struck early afternoon.
“Corner Madras and Chasel Street,” read Mary Louise’s sixth text message to her mother, relaying her whereabouts. “No rescue in my area. Please hurry.”
Amantillo said the messages mean that Mary Louise, although apparently immobilized, was in a better position than other victims to have been able to communicate.
“If only the government can read the text messages of my daughter many times, they will feel what she feels and they will know how we feel. They can feel through her text messages the need for them to do something,” she said.
Amantillo arrived in Christchurch on Feb. 10 to find a job. A registered nurse in the Philippines, she obtained a student visa to enter New Zealand faster.
The scheme facilitates the schooling of Filipino nurses in New Zealand for six months to one year, which allows them to apply in medical institutions there before the Nursing Council evaluates and approves their application.
The day before the earthquake, Amantillo said her daughter told her that she had skipped her classes to submit her resume to at least five nursing homes, her prospective employers. Mary Louise told her mom to wait for her to go online at noon the earthquake struck so they could chat.
Her mother waited that day, but only a text message came. It said, “Mom, I’m trapped.”
That started a string of messages from a desperate daughter who was separated from her family for the first time in her life to work in a foreign country.
Amantillo said she forwarded the text messages to Philippine and New Zealand authorities, and even relayed it through the 911 emergency hotline in New Zealand.
At least 70 survivors were rescued by hundreds of rescuers from different countries who rushed into Christchurch hours after the earthquake. Japan had the largest contingent of workers trained in disaster rescue and recovery and paramedics. Twenty-eight of its nationals are believed still buried.
Twenty-six hours after the earthquake struck, no one has been found alive amid the wreckage and piles of debris. A total of 161 bodies have been recovered, but only the identities of 13 have been made public.
“Please don’t stop, I know my daughter is still alive. She was able to give her location, how come they couldn’t reach her?” Amantillo said.
To this day, she continues to text Mary Louise—“just in case or by any chance that she can somehow still read them even if she may be weak”—even if she is greeted by total silence.
“Papa Jesus and Mama Mary are on your side they will never leave you,” read one of Amantillo’s messages.
“That’s all I could say to encourage her, to keep her holding on and make her strong even if she doesn’t reply anymore,” she said. “We have to send out our message of love to her and how much we care for her and that we’re not giving up.”