Tag Archives: DMU

The lead from The Economist

THE scale of it all is difficult to imagine. At the flood’s height, over four-fifths of the state of Tabasco, in Mexico’s south-east, was under water, damaging the homes of nearly a million people. Villahermosa, the low-lying capital, was inundated after the Grijalva river burst its banks. Canoes hit the roofs of buildings as they evacuated residents; higher ground became disjointed islands in a lake studded with tree-tops. Hundreds of people remain huddled inside the majestic cathedral in the town’s centre. Outside the state governor’s residence, tens of thousands queued day and night for bags of powdered milk, cereal and drinking water. There are over a hundred shelters in Villahermosa alone, the largest of which houses 4,000 people.

Most towns in Iowa have fewer than 4000 people.

Reuters is reporting what many of us suspect: Time will tell the public health course of events in Villahermosa

Colds, respiratory illnesses and foot fungus have become common, and doctors in the tropical city fear outbreaks of more serious diseases like cholera due to a lack of running water.

“The risk now is infections. There could be an epidemic,” said Ramon de Jesus Velarde, the head of Tabasco state preventive health program. He said cholera and dengue fever were the main threats.

Standing water attracts mosquitoes, which can carry infectious diseases like dengue. Cholera is transmitted by contaminated water.

Here in Iowa, I’ve put together some thoughts on bridging a relatonship between DMU and Universidad Juarez Autonoma de Tabasco, a state run university which includes a Master of Public Health program in addition to their clinical programs.

This is the opening of the proposal:

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. — The Life of Reason George Santayana

“Under brilliant skies that mocked the misery below, Iowa’s capital city was immobilized for a second day as most businesses shut down and residents struggled without running water after floods engulfed the city’s waterfiltering system over the weekend.”

New York Times, July 13, 1993

“Four days of steady rain in the Gulf Coast state of Tabasco has caused rivers to overflow their banks, leaving vast areas of the state capital, Villahermosa, underwater. Newspaper photos showed cars underwater and parts of the city turned into a vast lake, and Gov. Andrés Granier appealed to residents of the city’s central district to leave their homes…it was clear that much of Villahermosa remained paralyzed on Saturday, without clean drinking water and electricity in many areas. ..The city is an important provincial capital on the low-lying swampy plains leading down to the Gulf of Mexico. It is also the site of the regional headquarters for the state oil monopoly, Petroleos Mexicanos…The rest of the state is largely agricultural, and officials said most of the state’s crops had been destroyed.”

New York Times, November 1 & 4, 2007

The proposal is not much more than pixels on the screen and the hopes of several supporters. I think the right people are reading it and will act positively. The idea is multiple two way exchange of faculty and graduate students to study and learn about recovery following a disaster of this magnitude. It’s not the drama of immediate rescue, but it the kind of critical study and learning that we do best.
For now like hundreds of thousands in Villahermosa, we wait.