Volunteers in Chetumal pack relief kits for victims of Hurricane Dean.

Dean's high winds tore off the roofs of thousands of homes.

OBI volunteer teams are supplying victims with roof panels and food packs.

CHETUMAL, Mexico - Black-tarred roof panels and food packs may not seem like much, but they're everything to thousands of hurricane victims working to rebuild their lives in the wake of Hurricane Dean's destruction.

As Dean made landfall on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula as a Category 5 storm earlier this week, the storm's high winds peeled off thousands of roofs on homes in villages and neighboring towns just outside Chetumal, leaving homes exposed and vulnerable to more rain damage.

"When we started seeing our roof tops being blown through the sky and banging into houses and cars, we got scared," said Matilde, a hurricane victim and mother of four. "We ran into our neighbor's house and huddled there as we watched our house being torn apart."

Matilde's home is one of nearly 400 in her village of Progresso that was devastated by the storm.

In partnership with the local government, Operation Blessing and its teams of volunteers are transporting and distributing roofing panels to victims to quickly restore shelter to their homes before more rains hit. More than 3,000 roof packs are expected to be distributed.

In addition, OBI is also facilitating the delivery and distribution of emergency food packs and other relief supplies arriving to a central warehouse in Chetumal. More than 1,000 food packs filled with items such as oil, rice, beans, powdered milk and more will be distributed this week.

"As is so often the case, relief supplies pour into a disaster area, but languish in warehouses out of the reach of desperate victims," said OBI President Bill Horan. "OBI has become very good at breaking logistic logjams and getting the goods into the hands of victims."

HOW YOU CAN HELP
You can help by making an online donation toward OBI's disaster relief efforts. With your support, we can continue to provide emergency relief and recovery. Please make an on-line donation today.

 

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