SAN GREGORIO ATLAPULCO, Mexico (AP) - Inhabitants of the villages that dot the largely rural southern edge of Mexico City said Friday they feel abandoned, as aid and rescue workers focused on the 38 buildings that collapsed nearer the city's downtown in this week's 7.1 magnitude quake.
Jaime Perez, 72, was pulled from the rubble of the Sept. 19 quake that destroyed his house but hasn't yet received any aid. Perez is the local historian of the village of San Gregorio Atlapulco, which is known for its colorful Day of the Dead observances.
Downtown aid stations are overflowing with food, drinks and volunteers, but the poorer southern villages have largely been left to themselves. Perez said he and his wife were rescued from the rubble by neighbors. He still wears a bandage on his arm and now has nowhere to live.
"The only aid came from the neighbors," he said. "It is unfortunate that the Condesa and other neighborhoods with rich people and tourists get the aid. We are a village, and we need a lot of aid."
"The only aid came from the neighbors," he said. "It is unfortunate that the Condesa and other neighborhoods with rich people and tourists get the aid. We are a village, and we need a lot of aid."
Authorities say 121 of the village's houses were severely damaged by the quake and inhabitants are without water and electricity. The bell tower of the local church was toppled by the force of the quake.
Residents got so angry that on Friday they ran off the borough president with shoves and shouts. They feel authorities underplayed the damage to the village of 29,000, where six people are believed to have died.
"They ran him out of town because he said that San Gregorio had suffered minimal damages without even bothering to come and see," said Irma Serralde Arellano, 40, a homemaker.
Juana de los Santos, 52, whose house was partly destroyed, said she can't perform her regular work - selling boiled corn - because there is no water. The few furnishings she saved from her house lie next to a pile of rubble.
"What are we going to do? Where are we going to stay?" she asked.