Church officials work to assess needs after Wilma batters Mexico

Published: 2005-10-25

MEXICO CITY (CNS) -- Catholic officials and other disaster relief workers were trying to assess needs in areas of Mexico battered by Hurricane Wilma, which left at least seven dead and damaged the country's Caribbean resorts. State and federal government officials estimated around 1 million people were affected by the Category 4 hurricane that battered Mexico's Yucatan peninsula for two days beginning Oct. 21. The slow-moving storm blew away at least 1,000 shoddily constructed homes of the region's poorest residents and cut off the area by destroying roads, government officials said. "We're just starting to get in there today," said Eufemio Flores, who coordinates disaster relief for Mexico's branch of Caritas, a confederation of international Catholic humanitarian organizations. Caritas worked with authorities to evacuate thousands of residents before the storm hit and was assessing how to contribute to immediate relief with food and other supplies, Flores said in an Oct. 24 telephone interview from Merida, capital of Yucatan state.

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