Breathe
By Sandra Romandía
The wise virtue of knowing time, as Renato Leduc would say.
And yes: the minutes, the seconds, always play a crucial role, as pieces of an assembly where the sequence of movements and decisions is fundamental to live or die.
This did not occur in the face of the threat posed by Hurricane Otis, nor later, in the face of the misfortune it caused.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center warned at 6:00 p.m. Mexico City time that Otis would have a category five impact.
If four hours earlier there was information about its destructive potential, why didn't the nearest army battalions go out at that time to take measures to deal with what would surely be thousands and thousands of victims?
Why has it never been considered to stop relying on the United States to be able to deal directly with these types of risks?
I walked through the rain and then under the strong sun in different neighborhoods of the shattered Acapulco. I saw houses without roofs, looted stores, women crying for not knowing the whereabouts of their children, hordes of people looking for water or desperate for nowhere to buy a bite to eat, and uncertain about what they could eat next.
For at least 30 hours, not a single contingent of the National Guard, armed forces, or state police appeared to provide support.
It was as if we were forgotten by the world, and since no one had a signal, we had no precise idea of what was going on in the next room, in the next street, in the harbor, much less of what was to come.
The seconds, the minutes, are allies or enemies depending on our actions and decisions in front of them.
This time they did not play in our favor, because those whom we pay to make collective decisions on time, and to safeguard our integrity, were busy bragging about popularity, making political pacts, talking about other data.
Let's clarify times to see how it was possible to prevent and act effectively:
🚨- 7 am, Tuesday: governor @EvelynSalgadoP said it could become a hurricane.
🚨- 1 pm: published that it would be a hurricane.
🚨- 6 Pm: US Weather (time 7 Pm Caribbean) announced the terrible impact it would be as it was already known that it would impact as a category 5 on Tuesday night or early Wednesday and would be disastrous.
🚨- 6:52 Pm: @US_Stormwatch warned of how devastating and historic #Otis would be, no Mexican authorities did.
🚨- 8 Pm: @lopezobrador_ despite that info from EU, says it would be at 4 am when he would make landfall and does not order a total stoppage of activities.
🚨- 10 Pm: all Acapulco was still normal, stores open, restaurants; NO CLOSURE ORDERED AND POPULATION RESCRIPTED.
🚨- 00:15: As predicted by the US Weather #Otis made landfall and took us all by surprise; that we were expecting it at 4/5 am.
Would it have made a difference to warn in time when the U.S. alerted? Military convoys would have been there and #Acapulco would not have become a lawless city.
People would not have been on the streets; they would have tried to protect their homes, pack emergency backpacks, reunite with family members, seek safe havens and avoid emotional shock, physical injury and death.
This omission was a crime.
What can be expected from a public power that minimizes the tragedy by affirming hours after the tragedy that 27 were not so many dead?
Today we live a disgrace and an Acapulco in chaos, a tragedy that feeds the uncertainty of the entire country.
*Text originally published on the portal www.emeequis.com
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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