Emergency in Guatemala, Mexico and El Salvador: Luck Mervil Supports Efforts to Provide Assistance to Hurricane Stan Victims Who Have Been Forgotten by International Aid
The committee to aid Hurricane Stan victims, represented by Mario Rene Henández, treasurer of the Canada-Guatemala chamber of commerce, Ana Gloria Blanch, director of the Centre d’aide aux familles immigrantes (Mexico), Ramon Quintanilla, director of the CEDESAL chamber of commerce (El Salvador), Marcel Tremblay, special advisor to Mayor Gerald Tremblay and responsible for intercultural relations for the City of Montreal, Paolo Tamburello, mayor of the Villeray - Saint-Michel - Parc Extension borough, Luck Mervil, spokesperson for CECI and Chantal-Sylvie Imbeault, deputy executive director of CECI, launched an emergency campaign this morning to help the victims of Hurricane Stan and the earthquakes that wreaked havoc on Guatemala, Mexico and El Salvador.
According to an initial report, 652 people died in Guatemala, hundreds disappeared and the body count is far from complete. Over 136 609 Guatemalans were injured, 3.5 million are deprived of water and electricity, 89 675 are lodged in 280 temporary shelters and 5 352 houses are seriously damaged. A state of emergency has been declared. As in Pakistan and Kashmir, the victims, extremely poor families living in difficult to reach mountain areas, are cut off from everything and everyone. Over 118 villages are completely isolated and two have been totally wiped off the map, engulfed by a sea of mud. Today, mass graves were dug in villages now renamed “cemetery villages". In El Salvador, Hurricane Stan and the earthquakes caused over 60 000 people to be evacuated and 42 people died in Mexico.
The committee to aid Hurricane Stan victims, the City of Montreal and CECI are collecting funds that will be used to:
More: ccnmatthews.com
News of extensive flooding and mudslides, accompanied by lack of communication, raises fears that the death toll in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and southern Mexico could be a great deal higher than the 450 reported following Hurricane Stan"s havoc last weekend.
In Guatemala, the president has asked Congress to declare a state of emergency because entire villages have been destroyed by the mudslides and flash floods, and many people are still missing.
El Salvador likewise fears that more people than the reported 64 have died, because the 54,000 evacuated throughout the country will have difficulty returning to their
Central America, Mexico and Haiti: Floods from Hurricane Stan Emergency Appeal No. 05EA021
THIS EMERGENCY APPEAL SEEKS CHF 1,568,000 (USD 1,230,694 OR EUR 1,012,648) IN CASH, KIND, OR SERVICES TO ASSIST 10,250 FAMILIES (SOME 51,250 BENEFICIARIES) FOR 6 MONTHS
CHF 250,000 (USD 196,188 or EUR 161,463) has been allocated from the Federation’s Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to begin relief operations in response to the floods. Unearmarked funds to reimburse the DREF are encouraged.
A separate appeal seeking CHF 487,000 for 21,000 people (4,200 families) for floods and volcanic activity in El Salvador was launched on 5 October 2005
The situation
Mexico, Central America floods, mudslides kill 162
Raging brown floodwater and banks of mud covered chunks of Central America and southern Mexico on Thursday after days of torrential rain and mudslides killed at least 162 across the region.
Rescue workers battled to get to remote villages, where hillsides have collapsed under the downpour, and thousands of evacuees from urban shantytowns hunkered down in emergency shelters as rain continued to pound the region.
The death toll soared on Wednesday as rivers swollen by rain from Hurricane Stan burst their banks in southern Mexico, and emergency teams found dozens of bodies buried under banks
Death count from Hurricane Stan rises in Mexico, Central America
The death count from Hurricane Stan continued to rise in Mexico and Central America as rescue workers reached towns cut off by massive floods and mudslides.
The storm, which churned into Mexico's Gulf Coast Oct. 4 before unleashing heavy rains onto much of Central America, left more than 600 confirmed dead and more than 1,000 more missing in the region, though relief workers said the number could be much higher and warned that residents could be dogged by disease and food shortages for months.
The storm slammed into the Mexican
Stan Hits Central America and Mexico, 231 Deaths
The number of casualties because of hurricane Stan in Central America and Mexico has risen to 231.
Search and rescue teams in Guatemala have taken 40 bodies from the debris of a landslide caused by the hurricane and in a small coastal village 20 more people died in another landslide, reported the country’s civilian defense spokesman Benedicto Giron.
Along with the corpses found in Guatemala, the total number of hurricane victims is 231 including the death toll in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Honduras and Mexico.
Source: zaman.com
Flooding kills more than 160 in southern Mexico, Central America
Rescue workers were searching for victims of a mudslide near a volcano-ringed lake popular with tourists in Guatemala, as the death toll from flooding sparked by heavy rains climbed to 79 across this country and 62 in neighboring El Salvador.
Downpours have battered much of Central America and southern Mexico since the weekend, and it was still raining in most areas, causing rivers to overflow and carry off homes and people and huge chunks of land to give way, burying everything in their path.
Forecasters at the U.S. Hurricane Center said
Without some knowledge of Spanish you will become very frustrated and feel helpless in many situations. English, or any other language, is absolutely useless off the beaten track (except in Belize). A pocket dictionary and phrase book together with some initial study or a beginner's Spanish course before you leave to get you up to a basic vocabulary of 500 words or so are most strongly recommended: your pleasure will be doubled if you can talk to the locals. Not all the locals speak Spanish, of course;you will find that some Indians in the more remote areas - the highlands
Six to eight weeks is long enough to travel across a few countries without feeling you've rushed too much. Arriving in Mexico City, and after a few days exploring the sights and sounds, the architecture ancient and modern, and dodging the traffic,you can head south to the beaches of Oaxaca, before making your way east to Chiapas and the Maya ruins of Palenque. From here continue south to Guatemala or west out to the Yucutan Peninsula for the beautiful beaches and Maya ruins. Dropping south, Belize is worth some time. Diving, though more expensive than Honduras, is some
Flights from South America and Central America: Lan Chile, AeroMexico, Mexicana and Lacsa from Santiago, Chile (Lacsa via San Jose); Mexicana and Lan Chile from Buenos Aires; Lacsa AeroMexico, Mexicana from Lima, some flights via Panama City; Lloyd Aereo Boliviano from Santa Cruz, Bolivia via Panama City; Mexicana from Caracas; Avianca and Mexicana from Bogota; Varig from Rio and Sao Paulo; AeroMexico also fly from Sao Paulo; Aviateca, KLM, Tara Aerocaribe,arvi Mexicana from Guatemala City; Copo from Guayaquil, Managua, Panama City San Pedro Sula; also Lacsa, Aviateca and Mexicana from Panama; Laaa, United, Aviateca and Mexicana from San
Mexico 5, Guatemala 2
Francisco Fonseca scored four goals as Mexico defeated Guatemala 5-2 on Saturday in a CONCACAF World Cup qualifier, damaging Guatemala's chances for making the tournament.
Mexico and the United States already have qualified for the 2006 World Cup, and Costa Rica claimed the third berth Saturday by beating the Americans at home.
The fourth-place team in the region - likely Guatemala or Trinidad and Tobago - will face either Bahrain or Uzbekistan in a two-game playoff.
But Guatemala's loss in this central Mexican city handed Trinidad and Tobago a two-point advantage going into the final round Wednesday. Guatemala plays
