Heavy rains began on 28 October with a cold front causing the Grijalva, La Sierra, Carrizal and Puxcatan rivers to burst their banks. The rains critically affected the state of Tabasco in southeast Mexico while claiming the life of one person. Approximately 80 percent of the state was flooded. Flooding had affected half the state's 2.1 million residents and inundated about 700,000 people's homes. Landslides in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas have reportedly covered at least one hundred homes. Preliminary reports indicate that there are 16 missing, but some unofficial accounts number more than 30 dead.

«CERF Around the World

CERF allocates $ 1.7 million for a rapid response to the flooding in the Mexican states of Tabasco and Chiapas

20 November 2007:  Heavy rains at the end of October have caused floods and landslides in the states of Tabasco and Chiapas, affecting over one million people. In response to the disaster, the CERF has allocated a total of $1.7 million to Mexico.

Residents of Villahermosa use boats to move through their flooded neighbourhoods. [Photo: WFP]

PAHO is using CERF funds to assist the Government and local authorities to revitalize public health facilities and improve access to safe water and sanitation, targeting a population of at least 600,000. Stagnant water carries the risk of spreading communicable diseases through vector population, including mosquitoes and rodents. In addition, the Ministry of Health has warned of possible dengue and hepatitis outbreaks. PAHO is setting up surveillance and early warning systems to prevent these and other epidemics, such as leptospirosis and cholera, in the affected areas as well as in shelters. To secure enough safe water, PAHO is providing filtering tubes for families and for water tanks in shelters.

UNICEF is distributing insecticide-treated bed nets with a $100,000 CERF allocation. 7,000 families in Tabasco and 1,000 in Chiapas will receive each two large nets to protect in particular children. Another CERF grant is enabling UNICEF to procure jerry cans, water purification tablets and family cleaning kits (including a bucket, a mop and soap) to 20,000 individuals either living in shelters or upon returning to their homes in flood-affected communities. In addition, UNICEF is disseminating, via radio and print, hygiene messages that have been adapted to the cultural and linguistic context of Tabasco and Chiapas.

UNFPA is implementing a project to reduce maternal mortality and prevent unwanted pregnancies as well as sexually transmitted infections among 37,000 women and 28,000 men living in over 500 shelters. The CERF grant is also enabling UNFPA to make available emergency obstetric and prenatal care as well as family planning methods. In addition, UNFPA is training 240 health service providers.

IOM is providing shelter, housing materials and non-food items (NFIs), such as mattresses, clothing, pots and other cooking utensils and water potabilizers to 2,500 families in selected rural areas of Tabasco. Another project utilizing a CERF grant is targeting 1,700 families in Chiapas that also need shelter and non-food items as a result of the floods and the mudslides.

[Last Update: 27 November 2007]

«CERF Around the World

Updated report on IOM CERF activities in Mexico (in Spanish)