Mexico 

November 2007

ERT SAR Have been monitoring the situation in South America and especially Mexico since Hurricane Dean hit.

On Saturday 27th October 2007, ERT Senior Members convened a meeting to discuss various operational matters including the close monitoring of the situation in Mexico.  They liaised with ERT SAR Association Member; Canadian Rescue Instructor Jim Coffey (who is there) and Molly Bedingfield of Global Angels.

On Monday 5th November 2007 - following the aftermath of the Tropical Storm Noel, ERT went on a Level II stand by and alerted all international and senior members of the situation.  

The situation is dire and a state of emergency has been called.  There are concerns regarding instability, water hazards, land / mud slides, medical needs, collapsed structures and infection.

* National Geographic reported that Floodwaters in Mexico's Tabasco state began receding over the past weekend there and in other neighborhoods in Villahermosa, the capital.  The area still remains partly submerged (as of Sunday, November 4).

* Around 80 percent of the Belgium-size state was flooded after seven rain-loaded rivers burst their banks in the flat, flood-prone region, affecting about half of Tabasco's two million citizens, according to the Reuters news agency. Mexican President Felipe Calderón visited the state on Sunday and said the flood was one of the worst natural disasters in Mexico's modern history.

*Source: National Geographic News & Reuters