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 Editorials | Issues | November 2007 
Tabasco and Chiapas: From Chaos to Death
 Yudith Diaz Gazan - Prensa Latina
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 |  | As the water level decreases in Tabasco, the fetid stench of decomposition saturates the atmosphere.
- Red Cross |  | |
The Mexican state of Tabasco is emerging from contaminated waters as a flood-hit region, while neighboring Chiapas buries the victims of a huge wave that swept away the small town of San Juan de Grijalva.
More than 2,000 domestic animals and cows swept along by swollen rivers 11 days ago will be buried in a huge ditch in Villahermosa, the capital of Tabasco, on Friday, local Red Cross officials told Prensa Latina.
They said over the telephone that as the water level decreases in Tabasco, where more than one million people were affected by the floods and 100,000 were evacuated, the fetid stench of decomposition saturates the atmosphere.
The most affected neighborhoods were those on the banks of the Grijalva River, which are still under water and are infested with mosquitoes that increase the risk of a dengue epidemic.
"We have outbreaks of malaria, diarrhea, cholera, among other diseases. In addition, we have deal with the recurrent presence of nauyaca snakes, whose venom is lethal," health authorities explained.
In order to keep the snakes and crocodiles away, the flood victims can only hit the water, which is neck deep in some places and three meters deep in others.
Authorities confirmed that they have administered 13,000 shots against flu, tetanus and hepatitis A, and they are expecting another 70,000 doses to arrive soon.
Government agencies in the state of Chiapas and municipal mayors described the horrors that the inhabitants of San Juan de Grijalva, a small town with a population of 400, went through after a landslide caused a huge wave in the Grijalva River.
When asked about it, they confirmed six deaths and about 30 missing people in the town.
The office of the government secretary in Chiapas, Francisco Ramirez, who has remained in the flood-hit area to estimate the damage, pointed out that the land has deteriorated, and ruled out the reconstruction of the town, whose houses were made of boards and sheets. |
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