Mexico Government offers disaster assistance.

Warrigal

Warrigal

SF VIP
Location
Sydney, Australia
The question is will it be needed or even welcome? The Mexicans are a lot closer to the disaster zone than the Canadians who are channelling aid through the Red Cross..

WASHINGTON ― The Trump administration has not decided whether it will accept aid from Mexico to help victims of the hurricane that has devastated swaths of Texas and overwhelmed emergency responders.

“If a need for assistance does arise, we will work with our partners, including Mexico, to determine the best way forward,” the White House and State Department said in identical statements after Mexico offered “help and cooperation” to aid U.S. recovery from Hurricane Harvey, which has killed at least nine people, displaced tens of thousands and destroyed countless homes.

Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray spoke with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott by telephone on Sunday evening to offer his country’s support. The Republican governor told reporters on Monday that his staff would communicate with Mexican government officials about specific needs.

“Our offering is open and permanent,” Carlos Sada, Mexico’s undersecretary for North America, told HuffPost on Monday evening. The Mexican government is waiting for Abbott to send a list specifying both the immediate and long-term needs of hurricane victims in Texas, Sada said.
The Mexican government made a formal assistance offer to the State Department on Tuesday, a State Department spokeswoman told HuffPost. The department will decide with FEMA whether to accept the aid, said the spokeswoman, who declined to specify the type of assistance Mexico is offering.

The Mexican government has proved willing and able to provide crucial help to Americans in the wake of previous natural disasters. In September 2005, days after Hurricane Katrina wiped out cities along the Gulf Coast, soldiers from the Mexican army rolled across the border in a 45-vehicle convoy and set up camp at a former Air Force base near San Antonio. Over the next three weeks, the Mexican soldiers served 170,000 meals to hurricane victims, distributed 184,000 tons of supplies, and conducted more than 500 medical consultations, recalled Stephen Kelly, a former diplomat who was serving at the U.S. embassy in Mexico City at the time. Mexican sailors also offered rescue-and-recovery
assistance, and helped clear storm debris.

Harvey, projected to dump up to 50 inches of rain over parts of southeastern Texas, will displace an estimated 30,000 people. Texas law enforcement agencies tweeted requests for volunteers with boats to assist in rescue operations. FEMA has already mobilized all 28 of its urban search and rescue teams, a step it has not been taken since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Jeffrey Stern, state coordinator at the Virginia Department of Emergency Management tweeted.

In the midst of a natural disaster, the U.S. government can be slow to accept foreign assistance because of the bureaucratic hassle involved in clearing materials brought into the country and securing access for foreigners on short notice, said Kelly. But he advised the current administration to take advantage of the offer from its southern neighbor ― both because of Mexico’s close proximity to Texas and because of the symbolic message that cooperation between the two countries would send.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/trump-mexico-aid-hurricane-harvey_us_59a492bbe4b050afa90c3600
Click to expand...
 

Given the present dissention between us over the wall, very nice of Mexico to offer. My neighbor is a travel agent and says that Americans are, and have been for some time, been discouraged from traveling to any part of the country. The drug cartels and crooked police are a threat to any and all. We were warned on a cruise there 30 years ago, so obviously it's far worse now.

In spite of convenience, I think I would take my chances somewhere else.
 

Considering everything this administration has said against them, I think it's a nice gesture.
 
Camper6 said:
My advice. Send money.The same goes for Canada or any other nation.
Click to expand...
Sandra Bullock donated 1 Million to the Hurricane Harvey Disaster. If every rich person in America did that Texas would be very well off. Be careful where you donate (not that we're any of those rich people:rolleyes: ) but every bit helps. Safe ones to donate to are the Red Cross and Salvation Army. Samaritan's Purse is in the Victoria and Rockport area of TX https://www.samaritanspurse.org/disaster/hurricane-harvey/
 
Lara said:
Sandra Bullock donated 1 Million to the Hurricane Harvey Disaster. If every rich person in America did that Texas would be very well off. Be careful where you donate (not that we're any of those rich people:rolleyes: ) but every bit helps. Safe ones to donate to are the Red Cross and Salvation Army. Samaritan's Purse is in the Victoria and Rockport area of TX https://www.samaritanspurse.org/disaster/hurricane-harvey/
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, Lara.
 
Humility is a good lesson to learn. I learnt it while in labour with my first child. I could not manage without help and I had to admit this fact. In life, we all have to depend on the kindness of strangers at some time or other and the proper response is gratitude.

The same goes for nations. Australians are grateful for the assistance of US forces in our region during WW II. We are also grateful to the native bearers of New Guinea for the assistance they rendered to our wounded troops.

To whom are Americans grateful, other than other Americans?
Don't agonise over the question. Just respond with the first thing that comes to mind.
 
I don't think anyone updated this yet, but here's the latest, Mexico's assistance accepted, not rejected. I never thought about it before, but it seems that there are some reasons that past assistance was not accepted from other countries/nations in the past. They probably have to evaluate the situation also before approval in some situations, I don't know.

http://www.chron.com/news/politics/texas/article/Abbott-Mexico-offer-accepted-for-Hurricane-12162261.php
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday that the state welcomes the assistance and has accepted the offer.


"I have and we are," he said after a morning briefing at the state's Emergency Operations Center where officials were overseeing recovery efforts even as severe flooding and continued rains hampered disaster-recovery efforts in Houston and East Texas.



Abbott said the Mexican government has sent boats and vehicles, among other items, to assist in the aftermath of the huge storm -- likely the most costly in state history after the 1900 Galveston hurricane that killed thousands and devastated the island city.


No further details were given on where the Mexican equipment and personnel had been assigned.
Click to expand...

http://www.heritage.org/homeland-se...ther-nations-lessons-katrina-and-the-gulf-oil
 
Interesting point. I have been looking for international help with the disaster that was Cyclone Yasi, a category 5 cyclone that hit half of the coast of Queensland a few years back. Apart from the Australian Red Cross, I can't find any reference to any international assistance. That doesn't mean there wasn't any but I'm guessing there was not very much.
 
Glad a sensible decision was reached and the help will surely be appreciated.

Thankfully, they won't need ladders to cross the border to supply the help. I don't think there's a wall in that area - - - -YET!!:)
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top