Costa Rica was unable to make contact by the end of last week with at least three Ticos believed to be in Haiti as international search efforts continued following the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck that country Jan. 12, foreign relations officials said.
A news release issued Friday by the Costa Rican Foreign Ministry listed the names of three citizens who haven´t been located: Eithel Rodolfo Sojo Ramírez, Jorge Antonio Mora Mejías and Javier Quesada Crochieri.
Families or officials have made contact with 17 other Costa Rican citizens or residents who were in Haiti during the devastating earthquake and are in good health, the ministry said. The list includes: Hernán Aguilar Gómez, Carlos Weeden, Susan Herrera, Rodolfo Sovalbarro, Ana Laura Sovalbarro, Diego Sovalbarro, Henry Molina Calvo, Dunia Cruz Hernández, Hendry Molina Cruz, Erica Molina Cruz, Tifany Molina Cruz, Oscar Navarro Suárez, Erick Guevara Ulloa, Walter Jiménez Herra, Francisco Rodríguez, Nelsi María Flores Quirós and Carlos Wilfredo Chacón Gamboa.
Most of the people on the list of confirmed survivors have been taken to neighboring Dominican Republic, although several decided to stay in Haiti to help in the international rescue and relief efforts there.
Almost 30 international rescue teams, including groups of Costa Rican Red Cross and National Police, worked hard through the week to move rubble left by collapsed buildings in and around the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. By Friday, 13,000 bodies hade been recovered, U.N. Assistant Secretary General for Peacekeeping Edmond Mulet told CNN. At least 15 U.S. citizens perished, while more than 300 U.N. personnel were unaccounted for and 37 confirmed dead, the cable television network reported. Estimates of the final death toll range from 50,000 to 150,000.
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