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| Evacuating: Thousands of residents in the southern oil state of Tabasco sought shelter from flooding this weekend. Eduardo Verdugo/AP |
In Mexico's 'Katrina,' volunteers join relief efforts
Flooding leaves some 1 million people homeless in the southern oil state of Tabasco.
from the November 5, 2007 edition
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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."
A partial list of organizations accepting donations to assist victims of flooding in Tabasco.
Red Cross: Call 800-HELP-NOWor 800-257-7575 (Spanish). www.redcross.org
Catholic Relief Services:877-HELP-CRS or www.crs.org
UNICEF: 800-4-UNICEF or www.unicefusa.org
World Vision:888-56-CHILD or www.worldvision.org
Operation USA:800-678-7255 or www.opusa.org
Commercial banks with relief-fund accounts set up by the Mexican government.
ScotiabankAccount 00100911240
HSBC bank
Account 4000943274
Wells Fargo bank
Account 599253401
Bancomer bank
Account name: Ayuda Tabasco 2007.
Account number: 2280300127
Source: Los Angeles Times, wire services, aid organizations.
Compiled by John Aubrey, staff researcher
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