In Mexico's 'Katrina,' volunteers join relief efforts

On Saturday evening, families at the shelter were coming in for medical attention, watching television, and sprawled across sleeping mats that pack the parking garage. Garments hung from clotheslines. Two clowns walked around entertaining children. During the day, says Cardenas, many of the men left to fill sandbags. The shelter is full, so she says she's been turning away people.

While the atmosphere is generally calm, some are desperate for word of their loved ones. Damari Geronimo says that the last time she spoke with her mother, father, and little brother, they were on the roof of the elementary school, an hour from Villahermosa. But since the cellphone service went out, she has heard no news. "We have no idea where they are," she says. "I just need to talk to them."

Volunteers from across Mexico have come to help. Raul Toledo Dehesa, who works for the government of Mexico City, arrived Saturday and immediately went to a relief center. He says Mexico City has donated firemen, medical teams, and 60 tons of water, food, and medicine collected from residents there since the flooding started. "We are here to help. Tabasco is confronting what is truly a tragic situation," says Mr. Toledo Dehesa. Some banks in Mexico City stayed open on Friday, a national holiday, to receive donations. "I have never seen this kind of solidarity."

Villahermosa was largely paralyzed this weekend. Cellphone service was restored for many users, but lines formed around food distribution areas. Hordes of residents lined the gates that enclose the central command center of the Mexican Marines, asking for help finding their families and for supplies. Many parts of the city were made inaccessible. "For the most part it is calm here now, because people are outside the danger zone," says one marine, who was not authorized to speak on the record, as he drove through the streets of the capital.

Many organizations are still focusing on those who are still in their homes, a process they admit is slow, as those stranded are plucked from their roofs via helicopter or boat. "We are still rescuing a lot of people," says Mr. Romero.

The acts of kindness are many, as Mexicans spontaneously help man refugee shelters and take in family members and strangers. Petrona Cruz, a single mother, lost her home and had enough time only to take one suitcase. She could not find space in a shelter, she says, so the employer of her son, a security guard for a local newspaper, allowed her family and two others to stay in a vacant office space. "Thank God for him," says Ms. Cruz. "Otherwise we would have no place to sleep."

Like others, she says she isn't thinking about the future or what she has lost, but is focusing on survival. For many that means focusing on the many who are still much worse off. "We are going to have to start rebuilding everything, from the bottom up," says Durango. "But for now, we are going to help those who have not been as fortunate as we are. We are here."

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