A week after quake, thousands still homeless in Mexico

Mexico City : A week after an earthquake that killed more than 300 people, thousands of Mexicans were still unable to return Tuesday to their badly damaged homes, much less their normal lives.

After a week of eerie quiet in Mexico City, the capital's notorious traffic jams were visible again as the sprawling city of 20 million people began returning to work and school.

But many residents still had nowhere to go after losing everything in last Tuesday's 7.1-magnitude quake.

"You think it will never happen to you. I've lost track of what day it is. All we've managed to do is find some donated clothing, because we were left with nothing but the clothes on our backs," said journalist Gerardo Alvarez, a 31-year-old Venezuelan.

He and his wife have been staying with friends since the quake, which left their apartment building on the verge of collapse.

They are hunting for a new apartment, but prices in undamaged buildings have soared in the past week, he told AFP.

Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera has announced that those made homeless by the quake will receive temporary rent support of some $170 a month.

Architects and engineers have meanwhile been crisscrossing the disaster zone evaluating some 9,000 damaged buildings to decide which can be repaired and which must be demolished.

Thirty-nine buildings collapsed in the quake. Another 700 need repairs, and 300 have major damage.