Mexico City, Sep 8 (EFE).- Unusually heavy rains that in recent weeks have affected several states in eastern and southern Mexico have so far left "more than 600,000 people affected," the president of the Mexican Red Cross told Efe on Wednesday.
"It's not a minor question," Daniel Goñi said, adding that "99 percent (of those affected) are people with super-scanty resources, and that's the most serious thing, the most delicate."
The seriousness of the situation stems from the fact that in many cases the affected people "lost all their assets" and "it's going to be very difficult for them to recover," he said.
To help those in need, the Mexican Red Cross launched the first phase of a program to provide drinking water, food and other basic items on Aug. 28 in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, one of the three states most gravely affected by the situation, along with Tabasco and Oaxaca.
In addition, serious damage has been caused by the rains and flooding in the southern states of Guerrero and Chiapas, as well as in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas.
To date, the Red Cross has sent 220 tons of aid to the affected population, said Goñi, who added that he was confident that in the next few days much more aid would be mobilized for the affected area.
"It's important that we provide help, that we cooperate. No government is able to solve great disasters by itself. And I think that the cooperation of society always, always, in all the country's important problems, is indispensable, and in this case even moreso," he added.
Currently, "we all need to be alert" and to express, with the sending of more aid, solidarity with the affected people to show them that "they're not alone," said the Mexican Red Cross chief.
In this instance, the rains have fallen very early in the rainy season and have put the reservoirs in the southern part of the country in a critical state with the water levels near the maximums.
"The disadvantage is that, already in July, the reservoirs were filled and the margin for withstanding all the rain is very limited," said Goñi.
He said the rains were the heaviest in 25 years for the month of July.
So far during the 2010 rainy season about 40 people have lost their lives in incidents associated with the rain and flooding all across Mexico, according to federal officials.
