Edgardo Arredondo Gómez
“When it is everyone’s fault, it is no one’s fault.”— Concepción Arenal
The sun was rising that morning of November 19, 1984, the clock read 5:45 am San Juan Ixhuatepec (San Juanico).
Some people reported that minutes before all hell broke loose, a hum and a penetrating smell of gas could be perceived when a 20 cm diameter pipe that transported LP gas ruptured from three different refineries to the storage plant, near the tank farms, composed of six spheres and 48 cylinders of different capacities.
A large cloud of gas vapor ignited, causing a series of explosions. The dramatic scenes. More than 500 dead, more than two thousand injured. Damage in an area up to one kilometer from the incident. In the end, a human error was ruled and Pemex was blamed for a series of irregularities and a lack of urban planning. Even so, today, various gas companies continue to operate in the Valley of Mexico with many irregularities.
Jalisco
On April 22, 1992, in a period of eight hours, a series of explosions that began around 10 in the morning in the Reforma sector of Guadalajara, coming from the drainage system in an extension of thirteen kilometers of streets, left a balance of 230 dead, almost 1,500 injured, 6,500 homeless, as well as 1,224 houses destroyed.
The alert was given a day earlier when neighbors reported a strong smell of gas coming from a drain. In the end, Pemex was again blamed for the leak of hydrocarbons into the sewage system.
In Tlahuelilpan, Hidalgo, on the afternoon of January 18, 2019, a crowd gathered around an oil pipeline; The reason: an impressive gasoline leak, preceded by days of hydrocarbon shortages and the lure of free fuel, caused people to flock in order to steal it. Dozens of people with canisters, even women and children literally swimming in gasoline, throwing buckets at each other.
Despite a first alert issued around 5:04 p.m., and the Army personnel sent, it was not possible to avoid the tragedy. A large explosion that occurred at 7:10 p.m., with an initial death toll of 137 and more than 100 seriously injured, was the result. Years of investigation, the blame distributed between Pemex, the government and irresponsible citizens.
These are three catastrophes where it is evident that the human factor plays a relevant role and that have left painful lessons.
Earthquake
Starting in September 1985, after the earthquakes, the first of 8.1 degrees with the balance of human and material losses never accurately determined, and which destroyed Mexico City, a year later the Seismic Instrumentation and Registration Center (Cires) was created, and just in three years the Mexico City Seismic Alert System (Sasmex), which began operating with 12 stations in Acapulco, making it the first seismic alert of the world. The result is satisfactorily known. By “wa, wa, wa and the seismic alert!, seismic alert!…” the population, especially the residents of the capital, have developed a conditioned reflex that undoubtedly works and works very well.
At the same time, the regulations for new buildings were legislated and reinforced so that tragedies like that of the Rébsamen School do not occur. It shows that a disaster of such magnitude can, even within a narrow margin, be predictable and leave painful lessons.
Hurricane
Last May I had the opportunity to attend the talks organized by the Disaster Committee of the Mexican College of Orthopedics. The topic to be discussed: the strategy used after the impact of Hurricane “Otis” in Acapulco. In the end, the conclusions were unanimous: delayed reaction to an untimely warning, the ineffectiveness of Civil Protection, but also a failure in the culture of the Acapulcan population.
At the time of the comments I could not help but boast about the culture that we Yucatecans have in this regard, which, being so excessively cautious, causes us a series of funny situations that generate memes, but it is evident that at least in Yucatán the three sectors play at the same rhythm.
With technological advances, weather behavior, including torrential rains and hurricanes, is largely predictable. And just as the coastlines are vulnerable to the latter, areas like Huasteca are particularly vulnerable to intense rains. Still, it is unfortunate that the recent tragedy was caused by a phenomenon detected in advance.
The painful scenes, the feeling of oppression, the suppressed rage, the bitterness…, everything is understandable. This is perhaps one of the clearest examples that the perfect storm and its ravages also include failures in the culture of prevention, regulation and improvement of strategies and organizations created expressly.
The claim of the disappearance of the Fonden, due to alleged acts of corruption – by the way, the unheard of: one of those responsible is now part of the leadership – and the response that “it is not a matter of money, because there is the resource”, is not enough if we remember that the money was also intended to reinforce the Civil Protection agencies.
There is nothing to add to the fact of what would have happened with an alert taken seriously by the authorities, since it is more than documented that Conagua itself warned in advance, even though it is well known that a large part of the population is reluctant to abandon their properties.
What is left? Even still emerging from the onslaught of tragedy, once again take advantage of the hardness of the lesson. Let us also hope for a 180 degree turn in this, for Fonden to be recovered, for them to give it whatever name they want, to stop allocating resources that are lost and direct them to improve the Civil Protection system.
The government has to be strict and prohibit urban settlements in risk areas. Zero impunity and punish corrupt people who divert funds, resources and even humanitarian aid.
Rescuable has been the President’s display of frank empathy when she went to the disaster zone, very different from her predecessor who took great care to ensure that her plumage did not get muddy.
In disasters there will always be culprits and those responsible. Orphan guilt flies without owners, while those responsible take shelter from it.—Mérida, Yucatán
Doctor and writer
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