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By F.D. Hurricane Emily:
Rebuilding Puerto Aventuras
It took two hours, beginning just after midnight, for Hurricane Emily to devastate the Resort of Puerto Aventuras. With the arrival of first light, the extent of the damage could be seen. At least half the trees were broken or uprooted and most of the leaves were gone. Bewildered birds and uncomprehending squirrels toured the wreckage. People cut their way through downed foliage, around broken glass and shards of roof tiles, making their way to the impassible streets........
The workers arrived, and in two hours they had cleared the main streets with
machetes and axes. With a passageway made for trucks, the cleanup began. Assessing
the damage will take weeks. Most everyone has lost windows, and many condos and
hotels were hit hard, but actually little structural damage. Buildings made of
cement, cement block and rebar don't normally yield even to category 4 winds.
But the story is different in the village of Puerto Aventuras across the highway. As
on the sea side, amazingly there were no casualties, but there are now very few roofs, either. Tarpaper and grass palapas make no resistance to hurricane force winds. The Educentro where FOPA and PAAE run their programs was one building that lost a roof, which collapsed onto the tables containing the computers, as well as on both classrooms and the library. This is a
small loss compared to the general devastation. Your help is desperately needed. We need to establish a building fund so that when
the poblado rebuilds, it does so with sturdier materials, not simply erecting
shelters of asbestos sheet, tarpaper and grass to be blown away in the next high
wind. An ironic footnote to this disaster, generally noticed, is that the Puerto Aventuras
workers -- the groundskeepers, maids, and other personnel from the poblado, arrived
at dawn on Monday and set to work, tireless and uncomplaining, clearing away debris,
broken glass and other detritis. Then most of them went home to makeshift shelters
and roofless homes, to survive the night under tarpaulin and more tarpaper. For more detailed information on how you can help, and to make a donation, please click on the link below: http://www.educentro.org/Hurricane%20Emily.htm
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