September 30, 2002 - Page 3

It continued raining through Wednesday, hampering the clean-up process and leaving nearly the entire city still without electricity and water, although the phones for the most part still worked, which was a miracle in itself. Wednesday I was able to get out and see more of Mèrida. Even after three days, the devastation was everywhere. All the billboards, nearly all the trees and many telephone poles had fallen either into the street or onto a building.

Up until that point, I had been hoping that we might get our electricity and water back, but when saw how complete the damage was, I became overwhelmed with the enormity of the situation. Where do you even start cleaning up? It was at that moment that it fully dawned on me that Mèrida had suffered a natural disaster and we were here to go through it with them.

On Thursday, we had a meeting to decide what we, the students, were going to do. We had missed an entire week of class already, and it was looking like Lili was going to become a hurricane and come see us too. None of us wanted to weather another hurricane. So, we were able to make a small trip to Cancùn for the weekend, to get out of town and to give our families a chance to get rid of us.

We didn't get electricity or water until Sunday, and some students still don't have any utilities. The recovery from Hurricane Isidore will be slow. The shutdown of the city for nearly a week hurt everyone economically. Some people lost everything; others have sustained thousands of dollars in damages to homes and businesses. As for the people who live in the country and whose crops and animals were destroyed, the damage is much more severe, and yet they have fewer opportunities to receive the aid that is flowing into the city.

As for me, I will never be the same. I have a newfound appreciation for the luxuries that I never even realized I enjoyed, such as a flushing toilet and a shower every morning. We most certainly had a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I'm not sure any one of us wishes to experience. But we have also been able to experience first hand how a natural disaster of this size truly has a profound affect on the lives of its survivors.

If you are interested in helping out, contact Dr. Phyllis Bellver at bellver@centre.