Pablo Francisco Vega Guzmán is a 23-year-old young man from Nayarit who decided to be a savior at the age of 15 and went to Turkey in February, as part of Topos Azteca, to rescue after the earthquake. Governments are asking for professionalization instead of recognition.
He has 8 years of experience as a lifeguard and has already worked in Guatemala after the eruptions of the Fuego Volcano in 2018; in the earthquakes of Oaxaca and Mexico City in 2017 and other places suffering. He studied for a degree in Law and specialized in Criminalistics.
From February 8 to 26, Pablo was in Hatay, Turkey for almost three weeks, where after 8 hours of work with his team he managed to rescue a man who had been trapped in the cement of a building for 5 days.
They also rescued eight lifeless people, including two minors.
On his return, he said that he did not want recognition, which was not offered on the spot – but he asked the authorities to establish a school with official recognition and validity, so that people could stop being firefighters and rescuers. ‘t find another job.
“I’m not going to ask for equipment or anything, but an empirical firefighter, with experiences, courses, training, it would be better to create an academy like the United States, Canada, which are organized in such a way that they don’t teach us anything more. you don’t study then you can be a fire fighter”, but well they have registered the academy with SEP”.
Paul says that one of the main challenges is working with temperatures down to minus 3 degrees, but he affirmed that this helped to keep the hours continuous and some of the remains and to prevent the drought of the living people.
“I fear almost nothing, because when you doubt and enter a place with fear, things go wrong.”
Two years ago, he formally entered the Department of Civil Protection Directorate of the State of Nayarit. He is now an expert in collapsing structures.
He said it was in his veins because his father was a firefighter in Mexico City many years ago.
He said that one of the first experiences of his journey in Turkey, which was given by him and his people, was learning the skills and camaraderie that existed among robbers from all countries.
“I thought the Turkish government was very good, I didn’t ask where you came from. If you helped, they supported you; even those who went through Ukraine or through Russian territory had no problems, and there the rescuers lent each other equipment or exchanged microphones, contrary to what happened here in Mexico City , where everyone wanted to work with his own affairs.
Pablo highlighted the organization of the National Emergency Disaster Management (AFAD) of the Turkish government, which, together with the UN and other organizations, established camps with safe places to take care of children and girls, where they have placed schools, hospitals and other services.
But his aid went beyond the aid in place, because he established a support group with Nayarits, which sent humanitarian aid from the state or the residents of the United States of America and Europe.
In the coming weeks, he will meet with the Topos Azteca Nayarit team to talk about his experience and his techniques, in those that are highly criticized because they enter the buildings from the side, from the hole that supports the wood. or other materials, and enter the site to redeem the largest number of people. But this decision puts members of the brigade at risk.
