Crews still search the streets
People line up to receive food
Dead, 170 head of cattle in ranchería Río Viejo, municipio de Centro
Colonias still flooded
Colonias still flooded
What a contrast in news coverage! While Mexican networks update us on the situation in Tabasco and Chiapas, the Spanish-speaking channels in the US and the US mainstream media were covering the Latin Grammys and the latest fashion in women’s' lingerie.
I know my home state seems like a far away planet, unknown to people in the US; but the human tragedy is still very real and they still need our help. The news has moved on to the next hot thing, but the tragedy continues in Tabasco, just as two years later the tragedy remains in New Orleans and the areas affected by Katrina.
I imagine that news editors, and consequently the US audience, now believe that things are getting back to normal. But I don't see anything normal when I see pictures of crocs and poisonous snakes swimming in an urban area.
It's just not right that two women were tried to be arrested and questioned on TV whether they had been stealing shoes, when all they were doing was fishing odd-paired shoes of the same size out of the flooded streets because their husbands and children escaped their homes bare-foot.
A woman had to return on a one-hour bus ride to Villahermosa from the other side of the state when her search for missing relatives failed.
My brother and my friends tell me that the city looks like a war zone; they say that the best and worst character of people is displayed, and I can understand. In such a critical situation some scrabble to survive and others try to exploit the despair.
They also say that the tension is easing up because the supply of food is stabilizing. But the waters have only gone down a few inches. Officials say that at least two months will go by before people can even think about leaving the shelters and returning to what's left of their homes.
Blame begins to hover in the political climate - over what could and should have been done. I will not go much into that, but let me just say this is another similarity with New Orleans.
In a very serious tone, my brother tells me that the anecdotes range from those of his coworkers who were lucky to keep their homes or salvage some belongings, to those in the less privileged areas who lived day-to-day and saw their small vegetable gardens, hogs and few chickens drown in the mud.
My mother has had many roles in her life: schoolteacher, building contractor, cancer survivor, holistic therapist, masseuse, and now psychologist to the disenfranchised (I might write a book about her some day). Today she visited one of her patients whose business was right in the center of the flooded downtown; she lost half of her jewelry business to the floods and the other half to looters, most of the inventory was on credit. Needless to say, she is a basketcase.
The people living with my family are well; they are aching to go back to their homes and begin rebuilding. They keep a positive attitude and keep working, keep helping.
Today's amazing fact: A news story in Univision stated that the water that destroyed Tabasco this week was so much it would have supplied Mexico City's 20 million people for 25 years!!! If only that resource would have been harnessed for growth instead of destruction. Hey, it’s a dream.
I know my home state seems like a far away planet, unknown to people in the US; but the human tragedy is still very real and they still need our help. The news has moved on to the next hot thing, but the tragedy continues in Tabasco, just as two years later the tragedy remains in New Orleans and the areas affected by Katrina.
I imagine that news editors, and consequently the US audience, now believe that things are getting back to normal. But I don't see anything normal when I see pictures of crocs and poisonous snakes swimming in an urban area.
It's just not right that two women were tried to be arrested and questioned on TV whether they had been stealing shoes, when all they were doing was fishing odd-paired shoes of the same size out of the flooded streets because their husbands and children escaped their homes bare-foot.
A woman had to return on a one-hour bus ride to Villahermosa from the other side of the state when her search for missing relatives failed.
My brother and my friends tell me that the city looks like a war zone; they say that the best and worst character of people is displayed, and I can understand. In such a critical situation some scrabble to survive and others try to exploit the despair.
They also say that the tension is easing up because the supply of food is stabilizing. But the waters have only gone down a few inches. Officials say that at least two months will go by before people can even think about leaving the shelters and returning to what's left of their homes.
Blame begins to hover in the political climate - over what could and should have been done. I will not go much into that, but let me just say this is another similarity with New Orleans.
In a very serious tone, my brother tells me that the anecdotes range from those of his coworkers who were lucky to keep their homes or salvage some belongings, to those in the less privileged areas who lived day-to-day and saw their small vegetable gardens, hogs and few chickens drown in the mud.
My mother has had many roles in her life: schoolteacher, building contractor, cancer survivor, holistic therapist, masseuse, and now psychologist to the disenfranchised (I might write a book about her some day). Today she visited one of her patients whose business was right in the center of the flooded downtown; she lost half of her jewelry business to the floods and the other half to looters, most of the inventory was on credit. Needless to say, she is a basketcase.
The people living with my family are well; they are aching to go back to their homes and begin rebuilding. They keep a positive attitude and keep working, keep helping.
Today's amazing fact: A news story in Univision stated that the water that destroyed Tabasco this week was so much it would have supplied Mexico City's 20 million people for 25 years!!! If only that resource would have been harnessed for growth instead of destruction. Hey, it’s a dream.
###
I mentioned previously that my worrying prevented me from sleeping. Once again a reader came to my rescue - Ray in New Orleans sent this awesome email mesasge:
Hey Sol,
I know exactly what you're going through, hon.
I was raised in New Orleans and had family there but was living in Austin at the time of Katrina, and to be so emotionally torn while so far away and feeling helpless and obsessed at the same time. A TV and two computers going at all times. I know exactly how it feels.
Be sure to take some down time for yourself. I ended up burning the candle at both ends and working at the Austin Katrina shelters and ended up with an infection that almost became pneumonia. There issuch a thing as secondary PTSD.
You need to take time for yourself when you can so that you have the strength to continue helping your people in Mexico. And ya know, this has a way of becoming a life changing experience. Me, I moved back to New Orleans after the storm, 23 years after I moved away.
I'm travelling on business now but when I get back home this weekend my wife and I will come up with some donations. Hang in there, honey.
r
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