Salvador buries 'symbol of hope'

El Salvador is starting its long road to recovery

By Peter Greste in Acajutla, El Salvador

The last person to be pulled alive from the Santa Tecla landslide in El Salvador has been buried.

Rescuers pulled 22-year-old Sergio Moreno from beneath the rubble after he had been buried for more than 30 hours.

But when he died two days ago, the disaster-striken nation also lost a symbol of hope.

Lord, our country has already been through a war, our country has had tropical storms, we've had an earlier earthquake and now this. Why us?

Santa Tecla priest

As people spilled out into the street in the hot tropical sun, the packed congregation in the San Antonio de Pablo church sang of hope.

The funeral was more than just another burial in this grief-stricken country. The villagers were burying their nation's strongest symbol of hope since the devestating quake struck last Saturday.

Sergio was at home when the shock waves unleashed a wall of dirt from the mountain above Santa Tecla.

Symbol of hope

He and more than 1,000 others were buried alive. After more than 30 hours underground, rescuers pulled him free.

Many earthquake survivors remain traumatised

He was the fifth - and last - survivor of the Santa Tecla landslide and, as such, became a rare and potent symbol of hope.

His death on Tuesday came as a significant blow to a country still reeling from years of civil war and a string of natural disasters.

At the funeral, the priest asked the question that must be in every El Salvadorean's mind:

"Lord, our country has already been through a war, our country has had tropical storms, we've had an earlier earthquake and now this. Why us? Why?"

Consolation

For Sergio's family, the question must have had sharp resonance. But his father, Juan Moreno, said he at least felt privileged to have seen his son alive, if even for a few short days.

"Other people weren't able to know whether the body parts they found belonged to their loved ones or not," he said.

"It consoled us a lot that we saw our son whole and we continued our faith in God because it offered us that opportunity."

So as the congregation sang its last farewells, the funeral marked not just an end, but the start of El Salvador's healing and the beginning of its very long road to recovery.