Oh, by the way…

While U.S. media has been focusing on which of the dozen or so people who might be still candidates for their party’s nomination for president next year (and how much they’ve raked in in bribes campiagn “contributions” so far) they might at least mention that there were floods in Tabasco:

Mexico has also received help from the international community. Ireland gave about 1 million euros just three days after the president declared a state of emergency. Cuba sent fifty doctors to treat Tabasco residents, the UK provided boats and France sent 20,000 water purification tablets. In total, the European Union donated 3 million euros, an astounding sum compared to the $300,000 that the US government has given thus far.

For a disaster of this magnitude, the floods have received very little attention from the US media. While the BBC and The Guardian websites headlined Tabasco just twenty-four hours after the floods broke out, encouraging readers to share pictures and stories, it took two more days before the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times picked up the story, which never made it to their front pages. Major broadcasters like CNN and Fox News are no longer covering the aftermath of the floods, and donations to the cause were scarcely publicized. Mexico is experiencing its own Hurricane Katrina, and its closest neighbor has hardly heard about it.

The Mexican government estimates the economic losses to be nearly $5 billion–and costs will rise, as Tabasco now faces new challenges. The Ministry of Health announced that there is a high risk of dengue and cholera epidemics because of water pollution. An epidemic would easily spread, since medical facilities are scarce with more than 100 of the region’s health centers still under water.