Hurricane Assistance Needed in Majahual ASAP from Playa Folks

[weluvplaya]

Aerodog...........sent pm

[himynameisjan]

I don't think this can be said too many times. Toni, Cheri, Heather, Claudia and all the rest of you who are spending your time and energy helping out the good people of Majahual, You are without a doubt the best example of humanity.

All the Peeps, lurkers and newbies who have donated and offered to give and help, please realize you are so special! I have a renewed sense of faith that there are good and decent people out there who do something just because it needs to be done.

You all set the bar very, very high for the kind of person I hope to be. God bless each and every one of you. If the world were full of people like you all, think of what life would be like!!!! If I were ever in deep trouble, I know exactly who I would want covering my back.

[Debbiec]

Originally Posted by TAPPY

lurkers and noobs rock !!

Gee, thanks. We may not "talk" much, but we're out there. And glad to help.

[dwdart]

Here is a little news from friends near by.

[HI Friends.

Thanks all of you for your caring thoughts. We are all stunned. Placer is devastated. We must have received a wall of water 15 feet high. The mangroves on the other side of the beach road are littered with beds, cars, boats, concrete and its a real mess. Everything is dying. Fish are flopping in the road. Some homes have been leveled, others standing, but there isn't a home that isn't damaged. It looks and feels like ground zero. Mayan Beach Garden Restaurant and our home is solid. Still, everyone we know is alive and well. Three of the concrete cabanas are missing. Other homes are not so fortunate. Anne and Neil's house is leveled, Lazy Waves is leveled, Fabio's house is leveled, Placer hotel is damaged beyond repair. Ted Garcia's house is leveled. David Jacquith's house is damaged beyond repair. Professor martin's house, which has been there since 1916 has disappeared. all that is left is the gate saying Placer was founded in 1916. Its sad to see the property owners returning to look at their homes. Some are still standing but have severe structural damage. Few have insurance. I only know of one right now. Mahahual south was damaged, but nothing leveled that we are aware of. The restaurant at Rio Indio was hurt, but the concrete homes are standing, mostly windows and doors blown out.

We are camping at the beach with Wayne and Karla. Today we got a generator and have internet. We are bathing with salty water. Mahahual is extremely active with power crews everywhere. Many of the high power lines were down that deliver power to Mahahual but are down. We were able to buy gasoline in Mahahual as they were pumping gas with a generator. They were also giving out Tetanus shots in Mahahual and we all went in and got one. I was glad to go. I'll post some pictures as soon as I can. Sorry to be brief! thanks again for all of your thoughts and prayers. We're still in shock, but I guess that's normal! Right now our plans are to stick it out and rebuild some how.

Marcia]
It is great that everyone is working together in time of need.
I say thanks to everyone for pulling together to help the people that can't help them self.
You all rock!!!!!!!!

[jlsl]

Hi Cheri, Heather, Claudia and Tony,

You may recall I was assigned to go the Rio Indio area, a few miles North of Mahahual.

It doesn't look like a community with central resources (City Hall, Town Center, etc), the houses are kind of dispersed. To the houses further North there wasn't an easy access by car yet.

I left the provisions at Debbie's house, it's the big (pastel) blue+pink house. She and her husband would control its fair distribution to the others.

Everybody were very happy and thankful about the help.

We noticed I didn't have too much water to deliver. Also, for that kind of area with dispersed houses, it would be better to bring more canned food, instead of big bags of beans and rice (which may be better suited for a kitchen like the on at Mahahual pueblo).
A can of beans that just needs some heating would be better than a kilo of raw beans that needs hours to get cooked.

So, for your next round of purchasing I would recommend:

Smaller sizes are better because there is no ice or electricity for preserving unused food.

Cans of tuna, sardines, beans, soups, tomato sauce, chiles, salsa, fruit.

Cans of Frijoles Charros and Chilorio would be great.

Bags of dried meat, also known as machaca.

For drinks: milk, juices. I saw at Sam's a pack of small Hershey's chocolate milk.

I told them Kevin was eventually going to visit them to see what was needed, and he might bring some of the resources that were delivered at the other locations.

It has been an honor to come with you guys and the other volunteers to Mahahual and give my 2 cents of help.

Saludos,
Luis

[bjmpac]

I'll see if I can find it on a map ....but please do tell- or a reference map of the affected areas would be helpful also -- I'd just like to get some geographical reference points.
Thanks

[maureena5]

Here's a map of the area.....
Costa Maya Living - Real Estate of Costa Maya

[Anna]

You're doing a fantastic job, guys! It was nice to see Elsa's old book in the hands of that little boy. I'm sure I can find more toys and kids stuff to donate, if you think there's a need.

[Heather]

Originally Posted by Anna

You're doing a fantastic job, guys! It was nice to see Elsa's old book in the hands of that little boy. I'm sure I can find more toys and kids stuff to donate, if you think there's a need.

I wondered if that was Elsa's old book! Thanks, Anna. And yes, we'll take anything you can donate. Although toys are not a necessity, of course, I think it provides comfort and maybe "normalcy" that is probably in short supply there. We were talking yesterday about how, even though the supplies we've brought so far are just a drop in the bucket, at least we are showing people that someone gives a crap about them and what's happened to them. At least, I hope they feel that.

[Tony&Cheri]

We are getting a lot of emails, PMs and seeing some posts, all asking the same couple of questions:

Will money donations still be needed and accepted next week, next month, etc.? and

Will donations of goods from people coming down from the US & Canada still be needed and accepted next week, next month, etc.?

The answer to both questions is a resounding YES.

When Claudia returns in a couple of days, she'll have a new list of things needed. There will be other shopping trips and more convoys south. The damage in Mahahual to people and buildings is not going to go away soon. This is a long-term recovery project. All of us here in Playa will continue to do what we can. In a few days, weeks at most, people's attention will naturally begin to turn elsewhere. Contributions may fall off, and people have to get on with their lives. We understand that. We do, too. Hopefully by that time the government or international relief agencies will have stepped in. Until then, it will continue to be up to private people like all of you to keep the supply lines open.

One of the great results of the private relief effort of people reading this is that the Mexican Cruz Roja and the Mexican government have begun to pay attention to what is happening in Mahahual. The Army which was supposed to be withdrawn on Saturday was still there yesterday with no sign of leaving. Through Claudia's efforts, Cruz Roja now has an official presence there. Cruz Roja will be opening its own paypal account soon to obtain donations specifically earmarked for Mahahual. However, Cruz Roja has encouraged us to continue with our fundraising and relief supplies efforts. As they told Claudia, it is money they don't have to spend, and volunteers they don't have to find, so they can concentrate on their specific duties in the area.

As far as donating goods from the US, Canada, etc., we'll have a better idea of what is specifically needed when Claudia returns from Mahahual in a day or so.

There probably won't be a caravan going down again for a couple of days. We will all be waiting for Claudia's report/shopping list, and most of us have jobs and lives that need some attention.

As for us, for the next day or so, we're actually going to be working at the hotel. We want to keep our guests happy, and we have a living to make. Unfortunately, not everybody is particularly interested in the plight of others. We already had one email complaining that we were one day late in responding to a reservation request sent the day after the hurricane and that our work in Mahahual was no excuse as "everybody has their problems." We politely informed this person we would not accept his reservation and that were other hotels in town with vacancy. Thankfully, not everybody shows such a insensitive attitude.

The short of it is, many of us in Playa are going to keep our hands in this as long as needed, so please keep up with the donations now, next week, and next month.

Thank you!

[Jo]

Once again- the work you guys do is AWESOME!!!!!!!!

Keep in mind to get enough rest though inbetween- I know it is sometimes hard to do that when knowing there are people in need, but esp. as they need you it would be double bad if your stability and health went down the drain.........

I hope by the time I get there towards the end of October all will be fine, but if not and esp. if there is anything medical that can be done I'll surely spend time in that area if I am needed.

Haven't been able to donate yet as my account is in the minus (student.......there you have it........always in the minus) big time, but at the start of next month it may look a bit better and then I'll donate.
Until then I'll just continue to pester everyone I know with emails so they might donate something.

[Judy from WI]

Here is my first attempt to include a picture (Thanks, Heather). Unfortunately, I already resized them small when I tried to include them as an attachment, so hopefully the quality isn't too terrible. If this works, I'll attach a few more.
First point I want to make - When we were in Majahual a couple of years ago, we were told that Coca Cola installed a big water filtration system, making the water suitable for tourists to drink. We noticed that many of the trees were painted with the Coca Cola logo. Maybe Coca Cola would come to the area's rescue again with some funding to get it back up and running for tourists so business can begin again for the locals?

[Judy from WI]

Yeah! It worked!
Here are a few pics of the cruise dock and the little tourist village that was built pretty much for the cruise ship tourists...



Sunset over Costa Maya

Beach at Majahual; -You can see the lighthouse:

El Faro restaurant - an awesome place. If anyone sees Juan down there, tell him we hope that he is able to rebuild and get his restaurant going again.

I imagine from your pics that anything on the beach is pretty much gone. If you are near the cruise dock area and wouldn't mind taking a few pics of it, I would appreciate it. I heard the tourist area near the dock was not in such bad shape, although the dock needs major repairs.
Thank you so much to all who are making the trips to Majahual to help the people there and also to all who are donating!
Judy

[Uno Mas]

Just got 186 messages from play.info with the following text in the subject line, has something gone awry?
New LinkBack to post 'Hurricane Assistance Needed in Majahual ASAP from Playa Folks

[cuffedlinks]

Originally Posted by Judy from WI

I imagine from your pics that anything on the beach is pretty much gone. ...

You can see a bad video quality report CLICK HERE

and also

Mike Hopson has a link to photos and stories of the Costa Maya port Click Here.
Stormcaribe I believe...

Which also notes and gives kudos to the efforts by Playa del Carmen folks (YEA!) and also gives links to Playa.Info for relief efforts and updates....

Another Mike Hopson link with photos, webmac I think.... CLICK HERE