Word: mudding
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What was left behind in Armero, in Henao's words, was "one big beach of mud." A viscous gray layer, between 7 ft. and 15 ft. thick, covered most of the town. Thousands of bodies were buried in the sludge, their location sometimes marked by pools of blood on the surface. Other corpses lay half visible in miniature bogs that were as treacherous as quicksand. Some exhausted survivors lay on the surface of the mud in shallows, or staggered along in shock on drier ground. Many of the living were naked or only partly clothed; their garments had been torn...
Most horrifying of all was the plight of those who were trapped, still living, in the mud. Many were buried up to their necks; some had their mouths stopped with filth, so they could not cry for help. Sometimes the buried survivors were still locked in gruesome embrace with the dead. One was Omaira Sanchez, 13, who remained up to her neck in ooze two days following the disaster. When the mudslide struck, Omaira was washed up against her aunt, who grabbed hold of her. The aunt died, but kept her grip, even after rigor mortis had set in. Finally...
...Mariquita and Guayabal, hospital facilities were immediately overwhelmed. At Mariquita, authorities were laying out the wounded on any available surface, from black plastic garbage bags to burlap coffee sacks. Mudslide victims were being wrapped in tablecloths, curtains, anything that local citizens could spare. Dazed survivors, still covered with mud, roamed the town's streets looking for lost loved ones...
...Armero itself, rescue helicopters took off and landed on a grassy slope beside a lake of mud where a town once stood. A crew of 78 rescuers occupied the area, rushing gray-caked victims in stretchers made from coffee bags strung between poles. Badly overworked and undersupplied, the crew viewed the relief situation as increasingly desperate. "We are working against time," said Raśl Alferez, a Colombian Red Cross worker. "There are still a lot of people out there to be rescued, and we are not getting to them...
...only answer was that it was better than nothing. Despite the lack of supplies and equipment, small miracles were taking place amid the devastation. Using a bottle of mineral water sparingly as a solvent, a young Red Cross doctor patiently removed a stifling mud casing from a toddler, to discover a girl wearing tiny golden earrings. The doctor removed mud from the child's eyes and mouth, and was rewarded with a cry of "Mami." The youngster, named Sandra, was one of only five small children rescued Friday from the mud of Armero. A three-year-old boy was found...