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Anger over Mexico landslide claims

by (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. Click For Restrictions. http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Thursday, 30 September 2010 01:58 GMT

* Landslide far less deadly than originally thought

* Rescue workers say mix-up diverted help from other areas

By Patrick Rucker

SANTA MARIA TLAHUITOLTEPEC, Mexico, Sept 29 (Reuters) - A predawn phone call that led to exaggerated reports of a deadly landslide in a Mexican hill town diverted manpower from other storm-hit towns, a rescue official said on Wednesday.

The call to emergency workers by a town official from Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec warning that 500 people were trapped in houses in the poor Mixe Indian town in southern Oaxaca state on Tuesday triggered the mobilization of rescue workers from across Mexico.

Much of the operation was later called off when the tragedy turned out to be much smaller.

There has been a series of recent deadly mudslides in Mexico linked to tropical storms. At least 16 people were killed when a hill collapsed in torrential rain in the southern state of Chiapas on Wednesday, the government said. [ID:nN29106237].

In Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec on Wednesday, one family was digging in the mud with bare hands and shovels trying to reach five relatives buried in their home. Several others were missing. A couple of dozen people whose homes were damaged were put up in a town shelter.

Coffee-growing Oaxaca&${esc.hash}39;s chief rescue official, Manuel Maza, said the false alarm distracted attention from serious problems elsewhere in the state, which has been lashed for days by rain linked to Tropical Depression Matthew.

"The tail-end of Matthew left a dozen damaged bridges and about 20 villages cut off. The mobilization to (Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec) distracted attention from those areas," he told local media.

Homes in the state capital, Oaxaca city, flooded on Wednesday. Neighboring coffee- and sugar cane-producing states Tabasco and Chiapas were also hit by widespread flooding and mudslides.

Some in Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec, about four hours&${esc.hash}39; drive east of Oaxaca city, said it was hard to judge the scale of the problem when the landslide happened.

"It was pretty confusing to start with. Nobody is to blame for being wrong, the important thing is that they help us," said resident Juan Jimenez, who was cleaning debris in the town center. (Additional reporting by Nadia Altamirano; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Peter Cooney)

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