By Noor-Hal Cuellar
"True is it that we have seen better days".
William Shakespeare, As You Like It
Hurricane Alex left Monterrey, the third most populous city in Mexico, in difficult conditions and facing big challenges in urban infrastructure caused by the accumulation of intense rainfall.[1] Four months later, things have been changing due to the intervention of the public, private and voluntary sectors in order to rebuild the main arterial streets of Monterrey, as well as to provide help for reconstruction of the city (damaged households, affected industries and commerce, etc).
2010 will be a year not easily forgotten by the citizens of Monterrey. It was the summer when the Hurricane Alex did not look like an immediate hazard, but came to disturb it all, disfiguring and disabling the course of its two main avenues, which were built along the Santa Catarina River, as well as many other streets and avenues severely damaged. Aside of that, Alex took everything which was located on the free space between both avenues; the concessional land used as football fields and other sport facilities, parking lots, flea market, and only left a muddy abundant stream and took its toll of human lives as well.[2]
People could not believe their eyes. Missing chunks of pavement, fallen bridges, pictures were worth a thousand words. And that was only the beginning. Traffic chaos, lack of water and electricity became a daily matter to deal with during the next weeks. And these consequences made no difference between social classes: even the wealthiest areas woke up with newborn rivers streaming down their once peaceful streets, with an unusual force destroying everything in its path, even taking their expensive cars with the flow.[3] And even within the collapse, some took advantage of it: having damaged the water infrastructure of Monterrey due to the hurricane, merchants saw the opportunity of price gouging of bottled water. After a number of complaints, the PROFECO Federal Agency reported that 20 businesses were sanctioned with heavy fines since they were found to be overcharging bottled water prices during inspections through the city.[4] We could keep discussing all the economic, environmental and social effects brought by Hurricane Alex. But I would like to focus more in the response that engaged stakeholders have provided over the following four months.
Voluntary aid came flowing from a different kind of sources. In this the role of social networks and Internet diffusion helped tremendously to spread the current situation in a fast manner throughout the entire world.[5][6] Also the informal networks of alumni of the main universities of Monterrey, those who generally keep a sense of loyalty towards this city, were part of this information effort. That is how videos and slide presentations flooded the Internet, some of them in order to create awareness that could lead to an appropriate aid response.[7] All of it to help Monterrey inhabitants, who were going to deal with this as well as they were already living with violence caused by drug wars. [8]Another important source of relief was provided by the television media. A few days after the rainfall, there was a joint effort from the Mexican television companies, and overcoming the normal barriers of competition among all of them, they organized a massive concert named "Unidos Somos Nuevo León" (Together We Are Nuevo Leon) to raise funds and support for the victims.[9] This action also brought responses from entertainment celebrities, who donated funds to several local charity organizations. Sport football clubs as well organized aid drives in order to collect humanitarian aid for affected people.[10]
Private sector was eager to contribute, or so it seems so due to the impact it had to all the city's industrial activities. For example, one of the consequences of the severe devastation from the storm was the total disruption during several days of rail service in Nuevo Leon. Several bridges were totally damaged and fallen.[11] Of course, these unexpected delays on railroad system had an impact on supply chain activities for big firms, as Ford and General Motors, to mention some of them.[12][13] The rest of industrial plants were also affected due to traffic chaos and lack of water and electricity.
However, private and voluntary aid was directed towards the relief efforts used to help local residents to rebuild their homes, and delivering aid packages.[14] For the main challenge, reconstructing the damaged urban infrastructure, public sector has been in charge. Recently, the federal government inaugurated the Second Phase of Reconstruction Works and the President in his recent visit to Monterrey, announced the increase of Disaster Federal Funds to ten thousand million of pesos (approximately five hundred million of sterling pounds).[15] When the works started back in July, the initial estimated amount was half a billion of pesos (approximately one billion of sterling pounds) only to repair the affected sections of the streets listed before (5.6 out of 23 km for Constitucion, and 5.9 out of 24 km for Morones Prieto). But today the studies conducted from different universities indicate that it is necessary to increase the river’s hydraulic area, as well as to perform modification on several sections of the arterial streets to be elevated in order to avoid potential floods in the future. According to the delegate of the Secretary of Transportation and Communications, there is a ninety percent of completion of the First Phase of reconstruction. Second phase will mainly consist of complementary work with the firm intention to shield the viaducts so potential rainfall will not affect them.[16] The State Governor Rodrigo Medina, as well has declared that “we need to make sure that the works done reflect the needs and are suitable for this community, specifically regarding technical specifications in order to resist any potential similar hurricane threats”.[17]
We might be able to justify the flow of funds towards the redevelopment of Monterrey based on how severe were the impact and how relevant is the city for Mexican economy. It is understandable then why Monterrey will be first in receiving the aid to overcome the consequences of the hurricane; but for those who were affected through the rest of Northeastern Mexico due to flooding farmlands and households, it could not be so. Also all those affected by the closure of the Matamoros-Reynosa toll way, due to its partial flooding due to the opening of the dams during last summer which caused increased levels of the Rio Grande, where federal funds will be applied but not as a priority.[18] Same happens with the common landowners with farmlands still flooded and disabled for agriculture due to the dam opening (more than 4,000 ha).[19] Based on the personal appreciation of the direct stakeholders, mainly low-income people who have lost it all, relief funds mainly from local and state governments are not enough. [20] In these examples, damage is not enough to be set as a priority in the eyes of federal government when there are some other urgent matters to work on and yield faster results, like we have mentioned it is reconstruct the city that yields the highest business income of the country and is the capital of the state that generates 8% of the GDP.[21] Aside of that, current social conditions are not the optimal due the strong war against drug traffic that has been the motto of this federal government. The beautiful intention behind this, aside providing safety to the people, is to avoid the main issue that is driving off the area potential investment and economic growth since it is being considered unsafe - during the last two years; several travel warnings for the region have been issued by the U.S. Department of State. And this is happening to the place once chosen by the UN to host the International Conference on Financing for Development in 2002.[22] Obviously, it would be quite ironic if development is not prioritized after the hurricane here, at least if social disturbances cannot be controlled at all.
[1] Anon, 2010. “Monterrey, colapsada por fuertes lluvias”. Informador, [internet] 2 July. Available at http://www.informador.com.mx/mexico/2010/214861/6/monterrey-colapsada-por-fuertes-lluvias.htm [Accessed 10 November 2010]
[2] Anon, 2010. “Arrastra autos y puestos crecida de río Santa Catarina en NL”. Telediario, [internet] 1 July. Available at http://www.telediario.mx/node/24414 [Accessed 10 November 2010]
[3] Anon, 2010. “Sufre Nuevo León estela de destrucción de Alex”. Milenio, [internet] 2 July. Available at http://www.milenio.com/node/478174 [Accessed 10 November 2010]
[4] Zuñiga, F., 2010. “Sanciona Profeco a cerca de 20 empresas por subir precios en agua”. Telediario, [internet] Available at http://www.telediario.mx/node/25583 [Accessed 10 November 2010]
[5] Garza, J., 2010. “Ayuda para los damnificados del Huracán Alex” MetMEX [internet] 7 July. Available at http://www.metmex.net/2010/07/ayuda-para-los-damnificados-del-huracan-alex/ [Accessed 10 November 2010]
[6] Architecture for humanity, 2010. The Impact of Hurricane Alex. [Online] (Updated 22 July 2010) Available at http://architectureforhumanity.org/updates/2010-07-22-the-impact-of-hurricane-alex [Accessed 11 November 2010]
[7] RegioMty400, 2010. Ayuda a Monterrey 2010 [Online video] (Updated 12 July 2010) Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4VRH7e5Z7U [Accessed 10 November 2010]
[8] Emmott, R., “Drug war hits Mexico’s richest city”. Reuters, [internet] Available at http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6674RL20100708?pageNumber=1 [Accessed 10 November 2010]
[9] Anon, 2010. “Concierto Unidos Somos Nuevo León”. Telediario, [internet] 14 July. Available at http://www.telediario.mx/node/26834 [Accessed 11 November 2010]
[10] CEMEX MEDIA CENTER STORIES, 2010. CEMEX in Mexico continues efforts to assist victims of hurricane Alex in Nuevo Leon, Mexico. [Online] (Updated 13 July 2010) Available at http://www.cemex.com/mc/stories/mc_st071310_2.asp?b=st [Accessed 11 November 2010]
[11] García, L., 2010.“Detiene Alex marcha del ferrocarril en NL”. Telediario, [internet] 7 July. Available at http://www.telediario.mx/node/25570 [Accessed 11 November 2010]
[12] Tokic, A., 2010. “2011 Ford Fiestas delayed, customers offered $50 gift cards”. Autoguide, [internet] 18 August. Available at http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2010/08/2011-ford-fiestas-delayed-customers-offered-50-gift-cards.html [Accessed 11 November 2010]
[13] Anon, 2010. “GM cancels Mich. Plant’s Friday shifts due to delivery woes”. FoxBusiness, [internet] 15 July. Available at http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2010/07/15/gm-cancels-mich-plants-friday-shifts-delivery-woes-ap/ [Accessed 11 November 2010]
[14] CSRwire, 2010. Johnson Controls donates $130,000 to support hurricane relief efforts in Monterrey. [Online] (Updated 2 August 2010) Available at http://www.csrwire.com/press_releases/30197-Johnson-Controls-donates-130-000-to-support-hurricane-relief-efforts-in-Monterrey-Mexico [Accessed 11 November 2010]
[15] Presidencia de la República, 2010. El Presidente Calderón en la puesta en marcha de la segunda etapa de reconstrucción de los daños ocasionados por el huracán Alex. [Online] (Updated 29 October 2010) Available at http://www.presidencia.gob.mx/index.php?DNA=85&page=1&Prensa=15154&Contenido=61068 [Accessed 11 November 2010]
[16] Anon, 2010. “Aumentará área hidráulica del río Santa Catarina”. Milenio, [internet] Available at http://www.milenio.com/node/552934 [Accessed 10 November 2010]
[17] Oviedo, M., 2010. “Inician trabajos de reconstrucción en Monterrey, tras paso de Alex”. HoraCero, [internet] 22 July. Available at http://www.horacero.com.mx/noticia/index.asp?id=NHCVL34588 [Accessed 10 November 2010]
[18] Anon, 2010. “Graves pérdidas por cierre de autopista”. El Bravo, [internet]. Available at http://www.elbravomatamoros.com/noticias.aspx?seccion=1¬icia=262612 [Accessed 11 November 2010]
[19] Anon, 2010. “Caos y emergencia en ejidos inundados”. El Bravo, [internet]. Available at http://www.elbravomatamoros.com/noticias.aspx?seccion=1¬icia=239666 [Accessed 11 November 2010]
[20] Mendez, A., 2010. “Agradecen al municipio el apoyo a ejidos inundados, pero no es suficiente”. El Despertar. [internet]. 12 October. Available at http://www.despertardetamaulipas.com/nota.php?art_ID=62003 [Accessed 11 Noviembre 2010]
[21] Campos, L., 2010. “Después del PRI… el diluvio”, El Mañana, [internet]. 21 July. [Accessed 11 November 2010]
[22] UN, 2002. International Conference on Financing for Development. [Online] (Updated 10 February 2003) Available at http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/ffdconf/ [Accessed 11 November 2010]
APPENDIX
1. “Ayuda a Monterrey 2010” video from Youtube, user RegioMty400
2. “Monterrey” slide presentation from personal e-mail.
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