Help for the People of Tabasco State in Mexico

Late Update: The American Red Cross now has a spot on their website to donate directly to help the victims of the floods in the State of Tabasco in Mexico!

The news of 900,000 people suffering through the devastating floods in the Mexican State of Tabasco on the Gulf Coast is gut-wrenching. The scenes are reminiscent of the floods in New Orleans after Katrina. Here is a quote from the American Red Cross website about the current situation in Tabasco, which is at the southern tip of the Gulf of Mexico:

"Thousands of families are still cut off from assistance due to rising water and the most urgent needs are providing people with shelter, food, drinking water and first aid," says Guillermo Garcia, Regional Director of Latin America and the Caribbean for the American Red Cross. "We will continue to monitor the situation with our colleagues at the Mexican Red Cross to see what further assistance is needed and how we can further support their emergency response."

The Mexican Red Cross mobilized 2,500 emergency relief workers, scuba rescue divers and volunteers. In addition, the Mexican Red Cross sent two helicopters from nearby states to help increase relief distributions to affected communities. The Mexican Red Cross plans to immediately distribute emergency food parcels to 9,000 families and will assist affected communities with emergency food assistance and relief supplies in the coming days.

I hope the people who were so generous after Katrina will be equally as generous now. Donations can be made to the American Red Cross for the International Relief Fund (click on the appropriate button) or you can donation to the The Mexican Red Cross by making bank transfers if you are proficient in Spanish. Ideally, the American Red Cross would set up a mechanism for people to donate directly to Tabasco relief via their website.

The Mexican Red Cross came forward, at the request of the American Red Cross, during the recent wildfires in California with help in the form of people willing to translate for Spanish speakers who were impacted by the fires.