While waiting for help, Amparo Ponce went to a supermarket that was looted after Hurricane Otis, which devastated Acapulco, the famous seaside resort on Mexico’s Pacific coast.
“We all go out looking for food,” says this resident of a working-class neighborhood, walking away with an armful of water and food. The staff let it happen. The security forces don’t intervene either.
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Like her, several people enter the store, but the food shelves, including sweets and chocolates, are already empty.
“I feel bad, but there are people who have it worse,” sighs Amparo, 57, with tears in his eyes, pleading with the Mexican government for help.
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These scenes of looting have been repeated in several devastated streets of Acapulco since Category 5 Hurricane Otis – the highest on the Saffir-Simpson scale – which caused at least 27 deaths and significant damage.
Under the impassive gaze of the few soldiers deployed, many residents took toilet paper, eggs, bread and water. Some take advantage of the opportunity and grab televisions or refrigerators.
“survival instinct”
“Survival instinct,” says a resigned man carrying flour to make “tortillas,” those small pancakes without which Mexican cuisine would not be Mexican cuisine.
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“We are orphans,” assures another person who works for the local government and prefers to remain anonymous. “I’m a civil servant and you see where I get food.”
Almost 48 hours after the devastating hurricane, the legendary seaside resort is still without power. Connections are unstable.
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Ambulances, police or army vehicles pass by from time to time, but still not in sufficient numbers to help the residents of a city of almost a million people.
Shattered buildings, sidewalks strewn with rubble, uprooted trees: emergency services also have to remove the traces of damage from the hurricane, which formed in the Pacific within a few hours before making landfall with wind speeds of more than 250 km/h.
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Excavators are trying to clear access to the city blocked by mud and trees. Passers-by poke their heads into the shops, many of which are already empty, dark and with broken windows.
“We can’t find food. “All the stores have already been searched,” Guillermina Morales regrets to AFP, asking to inform her family that she is safe.
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“We need support from the government or whoever,” said Arturo Aviles, 48, owner of a small fruit and vegetable business. “They haven’t come to help us yet. The situation is difficult. Many people are hungry.
Humanitarian aid
According to the government, the distribution of humanitarian aid by the armed forces has begun.
About 800,000 liters of water will be distributed to communities affected by one of the most violent hurricanes in Mexican history, according to the press release from the Ministry of Security and Citizen Protection.
The tourist part of Acapulco was not spared, just as the tennis stadium, which hosts an ATP tournament every year, drowned under water on Wednesday, according to images broadcast on television.
After the hurricane, the hotels, shops and restaurants on the port’s main tourist street are empty. The floor is littered with broken glass and debris, and the walls appear to have been torn apart.
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“It’s total chaos. It’s indescribable. I had never seen this in my life, so much destruction, without water, without electricity. The beach is a public dump,” sighs José David Mendoza, a 63-year-old restaurateur. His shop on the beach is flooded, chairs and tables are tipped over on the floor.
He regrets that the hurricane struck a few weeks before the December holidays, which mark the peak tourist season in Acapulco.
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“It’s going to take a while to get over this. We, all the residents of Acapulco, are shocked by what just happened,” he comments. “And I see little reaction (from the authorities). I have the feeling that the (regional) government is not able to help us. But we need help. NOW!”
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