Mexico – Blanketed By The Weather

 

The Los Angeles Times has recently released an article entitled Mexico, Central America struggle through deadly rainy season detailing how “heavy seasonal rainfall has set off deadly mudslides and widespread flooding across Central America and Mexico’s southeast, killing more than 50 people and displacing more than half a million.”

Just as Guatemala has been stricken by landslides and floods so too has Mexico become blanketed under the torrential rain resulting in widespread insecurity. According to an article released earlier today by the Associated Press, “tens of thousands of people have abandoned their homes across southern Mexico to escape flooding from weeks of torrential rains, and forecasts are predicting even more rainfall.”

Floods are starting to be a recurring event in parts of Mexico like Tabasco, which a BBC article reminds it’s readers “was the scene of devastating floods three years ago.” Yet hope is significant when it comes to learning from the past to minimize damage the future has to offer, and with widespread reports of “the worst to come” as the BBC quoted Tabasco Governor Andres Granier as saying, hope might the driving force affected by the flooding.

 

Guatemala – Wrestling With Nature

 

Guatemala made news earlier this year after a massive sinkhole grabbed the world’s attention (see earlier article on Elitehusky: World Opinion). On the sixth of September The Boston Globe reprinted an article from the Associated Press reporting that “heavy rains from Tropical Depression 11-E have pelted Guatemala for days, unleashing deadly mudslides in several areas, cutting off highways and forcing officials to evacuate thousands of people” and that these same events have “caused mudslides that have killed at least 38 people in Guatemala”.

Fast forward a day later when The Epoch Times published an article entitled “Landslide Buries Rescuers in Guatemala” chronicling how approximately “100 local people organized themselves to dig out the victims. Then another landslide came along and buried them” as told by a speaker for the local fire department in conversation with Reuters.  

Another day later, and the Montreal Gazette is reporting that a spokesperson for CONRED (Coordinadora Nacional para la Reducción de Desastres  or National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction, using Google Translations) has called the search for survivors off due to “the condition of the ground”. The Montreal Gazette also lists the estimated damage caused by the heavy rain as up to “$500 million” resulting in “three days of national mourning and declared a state of emergency”. The question remains whether or not Guatemala is strong enough to recover from yet another blow from nature and emerge whole.