Section A · Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Tuesday, October 12, 1999
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Nation/World
Storm brings devastation and flooding to Mexico
The Associated Press
TEZIUTLAN, Mexico—It did not even have a name, but the storm has been called Mexico's worst disaster of the decade. Its winds never reached tropical-storm speed, between 39 and 73 mph, which would have earned it more than a number.
But Tropical Depression No. 11 was deadlier than any hurricane in the region this year.
So far, officials have confirmed 342 deaths, and they expect that number to rise.
President Ernesto Zedillo canceled a trip to Spain and Germany this week to focus his attention on aid efforts.
The full scale of the disaster only slowly is becoming apparent. A series of weather fronts, capped by the tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico, has dumped heavy rain on much of eastern, southern and central Mexico for a week or more. In much of the region, it continues to rain.
Washed-out bridges and roads isolated hundreds of communities. Landslides destroyed or damaged houses in dozens of towns and villages. Floodwaters carried away people.
Even large cities, such as Villahermosa, were so gravely flooded that streets became canals for boats ferrying furniture from inundated houses.
In Tenango, 100 miles northeast of Mexico City, a foot-wide crack appeared in the face of a turn-of-the-century, U.S.-built dam, which towers 70 feet above the town.
Teams continued work yesterday to bolster the dam with gravel and rock mixed with lime.
Authorities, meanwhile, said the danger had passed, and the 3,000 people evacuated from the area could return to their homes soon, Assistant Mayor Roberto Salas Vasquez said by telephone.
In Teziutlan, where the largest number of deaths have been recorded, rain fell for 60 hours without a break — 30 inches in all.
The rain forced closure of schools and most of the 480 clothing factories.
The residents of La Aurora, a poor neighborhood built under a cliff-side cemetery, were huddled at home when a mudslide rolled over their houses.
On Sunday, hundreds of soldiers, policeemen, firefighters and body-detecting dogs were still slopping through mud made even more sodden by more heavy rain. They scraped away mud from toppled concrete walls, then attacked the walls with clanging picks and sledgehammers until the smell told them they were close to another victim.
At the town's cathedral, the regional bishop, Monsignor Lorenzo Cardenas Aegullin, led a Mass for the victims and read a message of condolence from Pope John Paul II.
Residents outside complained that government help had been late. When neighbors were pulling bodies from the muck early last week, they said, radio stations were reporting that there were no apparent problems in the region. The military didn't arrive until Thursday afternoon.
Many have urged Zedillo to call for foreign aid, but the president has said Mexicans can do it all alone.
Troops blame militants after clash in Timor
The Associated Press
DILI, East Timor—International peacekeepers yesterday blamed anti-independence militants for provoking the blood-shed on the East Timor border that has heightened tensions between the foreign forces and the Indonesian military.
The peacekeepers denied the Indonesian army's claim that a squad of Australian troops killed one Indonesian policeman and wounded four on Sunday and that the clash took place in Indonesian-controlled West Timor.
If Indonesian police had been directly involved, it would have been the first clash between international troops and Indonesian forces since the deployment of the foreign peacekeepers to East Timor on Sept. 20.
Indonesian military, police and government officials yesterday repeated accusations that the Australian-led force was using brutality and illegally entering Indonesian territory.
In Dili, East Timor's capital, Australian Col. Mark Kelly, the chief of staff of the international forces, maintained that about 40 Australian soldiers were fired on by the militia force on Sunday. They shot back, wounding two militiamen. There were no deaths, and no Australians were wounded, he said.
1st Place HOMECOMING 1 9 9 9
TRIANGLE & ALPHA GAMMA DELTA
Thanks Triangle for all your hard work and dedication. We had a GREAT time with you. Love, The Women of Alpha Gamma Delta
H.O.P.E. Award Honor to Outstanding Progressive Educator
Nominations can be picked up at the Organizations and Leadership Center.
Please return nominations to the Organizations and Leadership Center in the Kansas Union. Nomination forms are due by 5:00 PM Thursday, October 19, 1999.
Saturday, October 30, 1999 prior to the KU - Nebraska game.
Senior officers will present the winner
Elections will be held October 18 and 19 on Wescoe Beach. The top eight finalist will be interviewed by the Senior Advisory Board.
COLLEGE STUDENTS CANNOT LIVE ON RAMEN NOODLES ALONE.
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