Mexican flood victims scramble for food; 20,000 still stuck on rooftops

[Bluebear]

VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico - Hungry and dehydrated victims of one of the worst floods in Mexico's history scrambled for government packages of food and medicine, while at least 20,000 people remained trapped Monday on the rooftops of homes swallowed by water.

Residents were running dangerously short of food and water after nearly a week of floods left 80 percent of the Gulf Coast state of Tabasco under water and destroyed or damaged the homes of about half a million people. Gov. Andres Granier ordered central streets in the state capital of Villahermosa closed to all but rescue workers to prevent looting....

Desperation grew among residents who could not get their hands on government-supplied food and water or who found themselves cut off from crucial medical supplies. Garbage piled up in the murky waters days after the city suspended most public services including trash collection.

As helicopters carrying aid made stops in hard-hit areas, disputes broke out among victims who pushed through crowds and struggled frantically for the packages.

"People are fighting over food and water, and the lack of electricity and running water are making life in the city impossible," said Martha Lilia Lopez, who has been handing out food to victims on behalf of a nonprofit foundation she heads.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071105/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/mexico_flooding


"What the hell can we do?"

[thereismore]

1. Clearly, they need Blackwater to protect private property. nt

:sarcasm:

[NYVet]

2. We spent days with no coordinated response during Katrina

and we have homeless and hungry in our country that we are not taking care of like we should.

Why should we take care of people in a foreign country before we help our own people?

[Bluebear]

3. Yeah, let those brown people starve on their rooftops, why should we help?

After all, they are not "our own people".

Shame.

[NYVet]

11. See response #10.

I explained my comment there. Is it shame when we do something to help somewhere else and are derided for not doing enough?



And some of those "brown people" may be related to me. My sister married a Mexican and has 2 children by him.

[Bluebear]

15. 'My sister married a Mexican and has 2 children by him.' - I'm sure that thrilled you.

From your tone.

[NYVet]

18. Thank you for being psychic and reading tone of voice

from the text.

I guess I should have posted a video on Youtube of me doing cartwheels and back handsprings when I was told that I was an uncle.








And I didn't respond to you late Monday or all day Tuesday because of family emergency.

[Chovexani]

12. Look out BB

Looks like "brown relative" is the new "brown friend"

[Bluebear]

17. Ugggh.

As I mentioned, I'm sure they were just THRILLED to have a Mexican join the family. Not.

[NYVet]

21. He treats her better than any of her previous boyfriends.

As long as he treats her well, I don't care if she married a Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, Indian, or any ethnic group.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Because during Katrina Mexican Naval Personnel were on the ground

in Louisiana and Mexican Army Personnel were on the ground in texas... did I mention the Mexican Red Cross present within our borders during that one? Or how about the Firefighters from Tijuana last week in SoCal, as well as Disaster relief personnel from the Mexican Red Cross

Now during Katrina we didn't respond BY DESIGN... something the Mexican Government is not allowing this time.

Hell, did you see George address the nation and ask for a NATIONAL mobilization, and the next day go, roll up sleeves and get to work loading trucks with relief supplies?

Their EFFICIENT response should put us to shame.

(Disclaimer I expect it to fall apart as soon as the cameras go away... but hey, nature of the beast)

[Chovexani]

6. Those relief workers probably just came up here to steal supplies!

:sarcasm:

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. I am sure

together with the Canadians, as well as the other teams

Or the 160 countries that sent help.

I wish Muricans got their heads out of their assess

We are not exclusive, or special and as global warming takes hold, these disasters will be more common

In fact, the ICRC and the UN consider this the greatest threat to human life and property... and the root cause for comming wars

[NYVet]

10. I have a friend who is a cop in Marksville LA...

He is also part of the National Guard down there and he did tell me about the Mexican response to the Katrina disaster.


And we as Americans send BILLIONS in relief aid to other countries whenever there is a disaster, and all we hear is how we should have moved faster and done more.

I am tired of the US being the world's safety net when nature decides to wipe out a region of the earth and all we get is spat upon by the rest of the world.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. You may also want to know

that offers of help during Disasters in the US are done as a matter of fact by nations

Katrina was the FIRST time the US accepted help

And you really don't want to know how.

So don't think people, and governments don't accept it...

By the way, we could afford to aide others and finance our own infrastructure if WE CHOSE TO.. your beef is with the current US Government.

Read Naomi Klein's Disaster Capitalism... what happened during Katrina WAS BY DESIGN

[NYVet]

14. I never said that people and governments didn't accept it.

What I said was that we were chided for not giving more to the nations that needed help when we have homeless on our own streets.

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. And you know what, this is the usual excuse given by the nativist

we could solve ALL and I mean ALL our problems if we wanted to...

Alas OUR GOVERNEMNT does not

[LanternWaste]

26. I suppose some people would get tired...

I suppose some people would get tired doing the noble, honorable and just thing. Being honorable is not fun. Being noble is not profitable. Acting as a just person takes time away from the important things-- like I-pods and console gaming.

I wish you had seen pictures of a particular German naval ship the day after 9-11, underway in the North Sea and all hands on deck in full dress uniform, saluting America and the tragedy that had befallen us-- maybe then you wouldn't be so quick to state with overly dramatic and misplaced righteous rage, "all we get is spat upon by the rest of the world."

:shrug:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. Mexico helped us during Katrina.

Jesus, this country's fallen along ways.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. The American press didn't cover it, hence it didn't happen

the american press didn't cover either the ammount of food, and money that flowed from all points around the world

[Dorian Gray]

19. We should help all the people in the world

who are the most needy, regardless of national borders. We are all human first. Nationality, though not a bad thing in and of itself, is an artificial construct.

[NNN0LHI]

24. Sick puppy n/t

[LanternWaste]

25. Because they are human...

Maybe, just maybe because they are human... and humanity should always take priority over imaginary red and blue lines on a map and brightly colored pieces of cloth.

It's not an either or proposition-- if we set our minds to it and allow ourselves a few sacrifices, we could help both "us" and "them".

It's odd to me that so many people place a greater importance on a person for no other reason that being born "here" rather than "there". Understandable, but still odd.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Here is what you can do...

How to help with the Mexican Crisis in the State of Tabasco


nadinbrzezinski (1000+ posts) Sun Nov-04-07 07:34 AM
Original message
How to help with the Mexican Crisis in the State of Tabasco

Edited on Sun Nov-04-07 08:26 AM by nadinbrzezinski
Folks the American Red Cross is gathering money

http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=n...

And I add the ACR for completeness

So is the International Red Cross

http://www.ifrc.org/index.asp?gclid=CLH4t7LVwo8CFQpMYQo...

And Habitat for Humanity

http://www.habitat.org /

Other usual suspects

Save the Children

http://www.savethechildren.org /

I am also waiting for the Mexican Red Cross to answer the query I sent to them, so we might be able to establish a direct way
to send money to them.

They need it

Water... surprise surprise, is in short supply, as well as food (they have more cloths than they can handle)

From readying their news media they may be facing yellow fever, dengue and of course cholera and hepatitis B

The Feds have sent over 20K doses of vaccines to the affected zone and the Secretary of Heath and Human Services (not the exact title but same role) has stated the Critical Emergency Phase is going to last six months

They are using Navy Choppers, as well as Air Force c-130s to transport goods and personnel

And the governor of the state has requested that people with boats please assist in the rescue efforts

In other worlds... it looks like Katrina, NOT

Oh and given the ICRC has the info on their website you may be able to give money through the ICRC, since that tells me they have gone International... as I suspected from offers of aide in European papers.

Oh and when will Junior react? Good question

I ntend to call my Senator and point out, when we needed help they helped... they need help

Oh and the cause for this... global warming... it is no joke.

Oh and if any of you are in Mexico... these are the bank acounts set for relief efforts

Banamex
A nombre de Fomento Social Banamex
Cuenta: 120, sucursal 100

BBVA-Bancomer
A nombre de Fundación BBVA Bancomer
04 Apóyame 3
Cuenta: 0427692633

Banorte
Cuenta: 27
Cuenta: Clabe 072-790 000000000270

Santander
Cuenta: Apoyo a Tabasco

Scotiabank
Cuenta: 00100911240

HSBC
A nombre de Fundación Merced
Cuenta: 4025940156

Banco Azteca
Cuenta: 01720115412160

Ixe Banco, S.A.
A nombre de Damnificados de Tabasco
Cuenta: 7777777-8

And in the US, here is the Wells Fargo Account

Para donar desde Los Estados Unidos:
Banco Wells Fargo Bank NA, a nombre de “Ayuda Tabasco”, número de cuenta: 599253401. Para transferencias: 121000248 y electrónico: 111900659.

Wells Fargo Bank
Made to "ayuda tabasco"
Account number 599253401
Electronic Transfer 111900659
Account Routing transfer 121000248

And here is the Bancomer Account

Otra cuenta en el banco: BBV Bancomer USA, a nombre de “Ayuda Tabasco 2007”, con número de cuenta: 2280300127 (Para depósitos en California) y ABA: 1-2222-05-06 (para depósitos fuera de California).


BBV Bancomer USA
Ayuda Tabasco 2007
Account Number 2280300127 (In california)
Account Number ABA: 1-2222-05-06 (Outside California)
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Add Unicef to this list

And yes I did send an email to my US Senator telling her exactly what they need after doing a disaster assestment... long distance... after watching Mexican News for over two hours

Here is what they need, if you want to add to the chorus of specific things we can offer and strongly suggest to your reps that this needs to be done by the State Department... even if they will have to fall under the authority of the DN-III-E, the Mexican Disaster plan... yes I am familiar with it, by the way...

Heavy Trucks

Heavy Equipment

Rescue Helicopters

Portable water purification plants... good news the Villahermosa plant is not knocked out of commision but it is slow

Watter pumps

Blankets

Tents

Rescue Divers

Medical teams... a hospital ship to support the Mexican Navy Hospital ship would be a great help

As to food... forget the MREs, people down there will have no clue what to do with them... (though the army and rescue personnel will), but RICE, and BEANS to be distributed to shelters to be cooked as well as cooking oil (USAID would be great for this) True story, after the quake Norway sent some smoked salmon and Pickled hering... that ended up in the black market since the only people who knew what to do wiht that were not the refugees. That is why that food specific to the country is usually sugested by disaster experts.

Medical supplies

Transport, they are stretched to the limits on air transport, and using all the equipment they have in the inventory.

Yep, that is about the list

But you... give money to either of the two accounts set by the Mexican Foreign Office... they will use that money to buy some of this stuff in country cutting on the transfer costs.

[Dorian Gray]

22. Thanks for all that info, Nadin

[RB TexLa]

20. Americans will care as little as they did about Louisianans

[Virginia Dare]

23. This is a humanitarian crisis and is getting little media coverage here..

why am I not surprised?