(Acapulco) The hurricane Otis which devastated the Pacific coast in Mexico, and in particular the famous seaside resort of Acapulco, left 48 dead, and 6 people remained missing on Sunday, according to authorities who are beginning to distribute humanitarian aid.
A previous report reported 43 deaths, most of them by drowning, but the deaths of five other people in Coyuca de Benitez, a town neighboring Acapulco, in southwest Mexico, have since been reported.
These are the first figures from towns located near the seaside city, devastated on Wednesday by the hurricane where, until now, other deaths and most of the material damage have been recorded.
A federal government statement said the number of missing fell to six after the state of Guerrero, where Acapulco is located, reported 36 missing.
Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said 263 foreigners were in the port at the time of the hurricane, including 34 Americans, 18 French and 17 Cubans. Found safe and sound, they all left Acapulco.
According to media reports, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador flew over the disaster area on Sunday and spoke with those responsible for relief operations.
The number of victims was slow, the passage of the hurricane having led to the cut of electricity and telecommunications, gradually restored over the weekend.
The hurricane, with maximum force 5, hit the city early Wednesday morning, devastating the seaside resort of nearly 780,000 inhabitants, which lives mainly from tourism. Stores and supermarkets were also looted while waiting for help.
” It’s a disaster ”
“We are making progress in the effective distribution of humanitarian aid,” assured Evelyn Salgado, the governor of the state of Guerrero on X.
Aid from the government and NGOs began to be distributed on Friday afternoon, after the reopening of the airport and the resumption of road traffic.
In the meantime, residents are organizing themselves by calling on the solidarity of neighbors to repair and clean up the damage.
“In terms of help, we haven’t seen anything coming from the authorities,” Miguel Antraca, 60, who went to a beach to see his small business in ruins, told AFP. It has experienced cyclones before, but never of this magnitude.
“It’s a disaster, it’s never happened before, the hurricanes were smaller. »
From a simple tropical storm, Otis strengthened into a maximum strength 5 hurricane in just six hours off the Pacific coast of Mexico. It made landfall with winds of 270 km/h.
The hurricane then weakened as it progressed into the hinterland. But heavy rains persisted in the states of Guerrero and Oaxaca, two of the poorest in the country.
The speed with which the hurricane formed did not give residents time to protect their businesses, homes and hotels, nor to stock up on water and food.
Eva Luz Vargas, 45, joined her neighbors to start picking up the debris. But this seller of products for tourists, married to a fisherman, is worried about the future.
“We want the government to help us because it’s really serious,” she said.
The federal government counted more than 273,000 homes, 600 hotels and 120 hotels having suffered more or less serious damage. In addition, 12 highways and roads remained blocked.
According to the consulting firm Enki Research, specializing in natural phenomena, Otis caused damage amounting to approximately $15 billion.