(Calexico, CA) – Calexico City Employees, who are members of SEIU Local 221, have been working to ensure the safety and security of the public since Sunday’s magnitude 7.2 earthquake. Around the city, employees have been clearing streets of debris, repairing fallen power lines, fixing water line breaks, and assessing structural damage to building and residences.

Lorena Minor-Montes, a Code Enforcement Officer with the City of Calexico and President of the Calexico City Employees Association Chapter of SEIU Local 221, explained that many workers have been on the job since right after the earthquake hit on Sunday, only stopping to go home and sleep and then go right back to work.

“We’re disaster workers too and we expect to be available to the public and keep things calm for everyone,” Minor-Montes said.

Pete Gastelum, a Calexico City Electrician, said that he and his co-workers have been working on taking care of problems around the city from power outages at city hall, the library, and the water plant to holes and cracks in local roads.

“We’ve also been doing work in the main business district because there was damage to the buildings and a lot of broken glass around,” Gastelum said. “Many of the stores are still closed.”

Employees at the water plant have been working hard to ensure there is clean drinking water and sewer service for the public, but have encountered challenges of their own. Jesus Navarro, a city water Collection Maintenance Operator and President of the Waste Water Certified Operator Association Chapter of SEIU Local 221, said that the water plant itself sustained considerable damage and lost power for a period following the quake.

Despite the challenges, Navarro said he and his crew remained focused. “We never stopped getting service to the people,” he said.

City employees will continue to work on the cleanup effort until Calexico is safe and secure.

“Little by little, were getting things back together,” Navarro said.