by Liz Tynes, originally published in Nica News 18 (November 1998)

	"La Pulga": 56-year old disaster rescue expert Marcos Zarinana Guardarramo says he is always ready to help save lives, anywhere in the world. He also offers his services to train others in rescue techniques. Photo: Liz Tynes.

His small body outfitted in a khaki uniform with a motley array of patches, his large ears protruding from a balding head, Marcos Zarinana Guadarramo looks like a wizened boy scout, but this Civil Protection Officer from Mexico is not out selling cookies; he is saving lives.

Known as "La Pulga" from Los Angeles, California to Pan de Azucar, Colombia the 56-year old Zarinana Guadarramo has been leaping into disasters for 13 years. La Pulga has dug people out from the rubble of the Mexico City earthquake in 1985, and again in San Salvador in 1986, Los Angeles in 1987, and San Francisco in 1989. He has rescued Mexican flood victims of Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, and mudslide victims near Medellín, Colombia in 1989.

La Pulga knows catastrophe. He comes with his expertise and a 40 kilogram pack filled with rescue gear to do his work: good boots, rope, a chisel, a hatchet, a pole for probing below the mud to search for survivors, a machete, a tarp that can be used as a stretcher, a first aid kit, and a triple-filter mask.

He is an expert, one might say, in making the best of a horrific situation. But La Pulga was unprepared for one thing when his government helped race him to the scene of the disaster at the foot of Posoltega: how unprepared the team of Nicaraguans would be.

Be prepared

La Pulga's face crinkles with anguished frustration as he describes the outfit of young people, "the rescue squad", he encountered in Chinandega. "They had nothing, nothing. They had no equipment, not even rope. They had sneakers that would come off in the mud. They did not know any basic rescue techniques like how to transport a person who is wounded. Not one of the rescuers was prepared."

They were, however, a brave and dedicated team, according to La Pulga. "But even the greatest good will and desire to help cannot make up for lack of experience," he warned.

On one mission, the team did manage to rescue eight members of a family after a 15 kilometer hike up the slopes of Casita Volcano to the edge of what had been the community of Rolando Rodríguez, the last 1500 meters slogging though knee-deep mud.

"No one was alive in the vicinity. Three of us would branch off and check other areas and it was always the same. I taught them that when I wave my white kerchief it means there are survivors. When I simply hold it up it means only the dead. I never waved it," La Pulga explained.

Could have saved more

After three hours of searching, the team found a family of ten surrounded by mud, eight of whom they brought down the mountain. Seven of the survivors were children aged 12 to 14 and the last to descend was an 80-year old woman.

The family had been existing on what little food they had in the kitchen before the mudslide cut off their house from escape with a mud plain strewn with tree trunks, twisted zinc roofing sheets, and the cadavers of their neighbors. They had been stranded for a week.

"They were weak with hunger, but even then, the two parents refused to leave the house. They were afraid they would be robbed of what little they still had," said La Pulga. Indeed, instances of looting have occurred in areas alongside the mudslide.

Though extremely pleased to have helped bring the Rolando Rodríguez family members to safety, La Pulga believes that many more people could have been saved if rescue workers, the army, and the general population were given advance warning and were well educated in rescue and life saving techniques.

La Pulga recalled his time spent rescuing mudslide victims in Pan de Azucar, Colombia on the outskirts of Medellín. He hung from the helicopter on a cord, helping free victims from the mud, giving instructions, and encouraging victims not to panic. Then he would help them into a harness and they were carried a short distance to safety, dropped off, and the operation was repeated. In this way a single helicopter could work continuously and effectively to help those in grave danger.

On return to Managua, La Pulga, who seems full of boundless restless energy, gave a class in basic life saving and rescue techniques and he urges Nicaraguans to continue efforts to educate volunteers, students, and all citizens in ways to maximize their safety in times of disaster. "There will be more," he predicted sagely.

"Just the basics! The minimum!" implored La Pulga, fairly jumping out of his seat. "Nicaragua has suffered a major earthquake, Hurricane Joan, and now this! Who is learning from these experiences? One must learn!"

"There is a wise Japanese saying," he noted raising a finger. "When it appears that we have forgotten the last tragedy, it is then that we are not prepared for the one that is coming."

Saving body and soul

La Pulga, himself, received his first medical and emergency preparation many years ago as part of his Theology degree at the University of Montemorelos in Nueva León, Mexico. It is still a requirement, as many priests are posted to remote areas without access to a doctor and are therefore required to know how to save lives as well as souls.

La Pulga finished his degree but decided not to become a man of the cloth but instead one of the pick ax, rope, flares, and bandages -a civil protection officer.

Reflecting upon his decision to become a "master in disaster" on the front-lines of a decade's worth of tremendous pain and suffering, La Pulga sits still for the first time in our interview.

"God gives everyone a gift, and this," he said stretching out his hands slowly in a gesture of rescue, "is mine."