Disaster Relief and Corruption in Mexico.

There was Storm Manuel that hit Mexico’s Pacific coast, near Acapulco last month. Sources say that “Many of those deaths occurred in Acapulco's home state… and the mud completely blocked the entrance to a main hillside tunnel that lead into the city as waist-deep flood waters at the city's international airport prevented roughly 40,000 visitors from leaving. At least 58 people remain missing days after Manuel slammed the region.”

Although there was not much news coverage about this storm, it was a grave disaster to the vulnerable communities in the Pacific coast of Mexico, whom relied primarily from government disaster relief.

I did not experience the implication of this storm directly, but a friends’ relative did, and I was able to get a local perspective about how governmental/international distribution of water, food, and other emergency supplies sometimes do not reach the people and become lost or handed over by corruption dealings. The relative of my friend lived in Guerrero, Acapulco, and her homes were one of the many homes that were shattered by the impact of the storm. She claimed that she along with the family of 5 was forced to live in set up camps along with other victim families. The next day, when local Mexican authority had claimed that governmental aid supplies, and necessary supplies would come by in a few hours in trucks to be distributed to the families who lost everything, the families waited for that promised assistance. However, as soon as they herd the arrival of trucks loaded with supplies, the trucks simply kept going straight into the road, and never stopped. The supplies and the trucks never came, and they still do not know where those donation went. This story depict the immense corruption behind local aid distribution, in this case specifically target for disaster relief. I wonder to what extent were national actors involved in this type of doing, whether it was corruption by secondary hand, or already top-down dealings. The question holds, who is to be held accountable? Because the victims see only the governmetn as the ineffective provider.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/19/us-storm-manuel-idUSBRE98H1BQ20130919