“We only had 5 minutes…”

By Diego Planas
Huixtla, Estado de Chiapas, México, 25 October 2005

General information and current situation

Help arrives from the Mano Amiga Squads

The Mano Amiga (Helping Hand) Squads, as they are called, offered an average of 60 instances of emergency aid per day and were able to help the hurricane victims begin to shovel out their houses and belongings from beneath the sand.

A group of us in the Mano Amiga Squads arrived to Conapo township in Huixtla , Chiapas , at least to the few centimeters of Conapo that we could see since sadly enough only the rooftops are visible above the sand. Everything that was in these homes, their cars, their refrigerators, stoves, clothing, furniture, toys… was covered by tons and tons of sand and dirt. Trying to “swallow” our initial shock and reaction, we got to work.

“It all began in the morning. Around 9 am the water was up to our ankles. Five or ten minutes later the water was up to our waists. It only took about two hours for things to fill up as you see them now,” Juan shared with us as he stared at the ground, as if trying to imagine his belongings that were completely buried.

Cecilia López, another one of the neighbors suffering the same misfortune as Juan  was a quite troubled, “We only had five minutes to get out. Nobody is helping us […]But you are here now and we are very grateful to all of you for giving us so much of your time.”

There were many other families without a home and many homes without any family in sight. There seemed to be a sense of frustration and desolation in all of them. Nevertheless, as our Mano Amiga Squads began to pitch in and lend a helping hand, it seemed as if by magic that we were helping them rebuild their little world. With each shovel full of sand and debris that we removed from the mound these people began to smile more and more.

“It seems like we're never going to finish…”, Testimony of Annamaría, a Mano Amiga Squad volunteer from the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Tamaulipas (Institute for Higher Studies of Tamaulipas)

By Diego Planas
Huixtla Shelter, Estado de Chiapas. Mexico , 26 October 2005

General information and current situation

The Huixtla shelter is a humanitarian emergency aid center that presently offers shelter to more than 3,000 refugees. It is operated by the armed forces and includes a storage area for clothing items and food.

Help arrives from the Mano Amiga Squads

“After having spent most of the morning shoveling, we (squad members) arrived to the Huixtla shelter. We were met by a towering mountain of bags filled with clothing. The dividing up and classification of the clothing began.”

Men's wear, women's wear, baby clothing, everything. About 25 of us squad members divided up the clothing and put it into new bags with the respective labels and classifications for the hurricane victims who would be arriving shortly (we were expecting around 3,000.) There were bags, bags and more bags. Label the bag with a marker, tie a knot and throw it on the pile. After a while, when we turned around we saw an even bigger mountain of bags.”

“It is simply amazing. During the morning we were shoveling out an area of the town that was completely buried in sand, now we are dividing up and packaging clothing, of which there is really too much. It seems like we're never going to finish.”

“This is the worst scenario I have ever seen...,” Testimony of Gerardo, Mano Amiga Squad volunteer from the Anáhuac University North Campus.

By Diego Planas
Ciudad Hidalgo , on the boarder with Guatemala , 25 October 2005

General information and current situation

Ciudad Hidalgo is located about 40 minutes from Tapachula. The river that forms the boarder with Guatemala overflowed its banks and grew to about 10 times its normal size reaching the town's main square. In its path the flooded river destroyed the town's covered marketplace with all its shops and stands, taking with it all of the food and goods that had previously been there.

Help arrives from the Mano Amiga Squads  

The Mano Amiga (Helping Hand) Squads arrived with a team of about 40 squad volunteers, all of them students at the Anáhuac University in Mexico City . These volunteers were able to remove the muck from a local church that had been completely buried in the flooding . There were also medical consultations offered at the local clinic and from the mobile Telemedicina medical unit – this mobile medical unit was able to offer about 40 consultations a day.

“Food of all kinds was scattered everywhere and mixed in with the river mud, crates and boxes…candy, soft drinks, dairy products, meats. Tons and tons of debris with a hideous stench, but worse still tons and tons of potential sicknesses and diseases – this is what our squad members found in Ciudad Hidalgo, Chiapas.”

“We began to shovel out the local church, removing the mud and debris. The stench was unbearable since all that rotten food had been mixed in with the mud for about two weeks already. The flooded river was still just a few feet from the marketplace and stores.”

“Then a few children arrived with their skinny little arms and chubby little stomachs, completely naked. They began to dig around in the disgusting muck until they found the bits and pieces of candy… which they then popped in their mouths.”

“We also saw children jumping into the river to snatch bits of rotten food particles that the store owners had thrown into the river. It was very heart wrenching to witness all this material damage, but witnessing all the human misery here is enough to overwhelm anybody. You cannot even begin to understand the magnitude of this disaster and all that needs to be done, unless you are here and see for yourself.”   

“Thanks for coming”

By Diego Planas
Mazatán , Chiapas , 25 October 2005

General information and current situation

Mazatán is about 45 minutes from Tapachula. The small farm village of the Buenos Aires district was completely swept over by the flood waters. It is the poorest region that our volunteer squads visited.

Help arrives from the Mano Amiga Squads  

A team of about 40 squad volunteers , the majority of them law students, and a mobile Telemedicina ambulance unit were dispatched to the area. The doctors attended 240 patients a day on average.

Mrs. Lola's eyes lit up the darkness of the night as the Mano Amiga Squad members got off the coach that had brought us to Mazatán. The group of volunteers began to move their baggage and personal items into a room behind the town church. Mrs. Lola waited patiently and smiled. It seemed like this poorest of towns that we had come to assist was somehow suspended in time this night.

“I thought that everyone would forget about us. We figured that with the other hurricane that had struck the Yucatán nobody would come to help us,” she shared as we sat down for a dinner of beans, pasta, eggs and tortillas.

The local parish priest in a friendly and subtle way made us solemnly pledge before all of his parishioners attending Sunday Mass that we were committed to help all the local communities as much as we could. That's why we came.