Otis broke all storm prediction models early on October 25, 2023. It went from category 2 to category 5 in a matter of hourshitting the heart of the port of Acapulco, Guerrero. The consequences were catastrophic.
The numbers say fifty dead, 32 missing and an economic impact that amounted to almost 20 billion dollars. However, it also showed the resilience of the port. After hours of silence, without electricity or internet, people watched the tragedy and then had to get up.
The morning of October 25 Images of the devastation began to circulate, courtesy of unwitting witnesses to the tragedy. People took shelter where they could, in their homes or on the ground floor of the buildings. hotels. Local journalists were left without transportation or transmission devices, even the antenna of ‘Radio Formula’ in Acapulco fell.
Not even the former president Lopez Obrador In the “morning”, not even the radio programs had precise information. It took us national journalists a while to arrive. Acapulco It was inaccessible, everything was rubble, fallen trees, overflowing garbage and decomposing fauna. The people at the port were in ‘shock’.
By the time the first journalists managed to send information, the protagonist on television and networks was the drone and their overflights through Acapulco. The coastal shots Miguel Aleman and Diamond Tip They were spectacular, it looked like an apocalyptic landscape taken from the movies.
Only with the drone could we measure what happened. Destroyed hotels, broken shops, streets under water and overturned cars. All the drama from a bird’s eye view. He 90% his hotel infrastructure, residential and of supplies remained devastated. Thousands of glass, furniture, lighting, traffic lights and palm trees that flew through the air stood as implacable witnesses.
The famous “Bungee” of Acapulcoa tourist attraction in the port, collapsed and was left lying on the sand. There was no food, no water, no electricity, no gas, no fuel. At night the terror increased in level in front of the looting; To prevent robberies, people from the most affected neighborhoods took turns guarding the streets and built barricades, armed with whatever they found.
At night gunshots were heard in different parts of the city. Acapulco was chaos. From the airport to the cliff The Quebradtoit was desolation. The tourist city par excellence in 20th century Mexico, which was visited by famous people such as Agustín Lara or Elvis Presleywas unrecognizable.
The Marine Private Acapulco was and still is a naval cemetery on the water. Party boats sank, glass-bottomed boats floated upside down; you could see it between Caleta Beach and the island of La Roqueta.
Only the statue Cantinflas he remained standing. Even a kilometer from the coast, on a tour of the disaster zone, we saw a ship of Pemex stranded on the rocks. The yachts ended up in the sand or even in the streets. There are still a dozen missing people who worked in the Navy and were never seen again after the storm.
Come on, even the clothes Liverpool they took away I had to go to Chilpancingo to buy groceries. The motels on the way there were filled with people from the port and officials from public agencies. The nights were no man’s land. People locked themselves in the first few days as soon as the sun fell, they broke into their doors and unleashed their dogs.
It is false that the army confiscated the aid, on the contrary, we saw dozens of military convoys that they were on their way; From the first days they carried food, water, gasoline and water treatment plants.
The third army in the disaster were the workers of the Federal Electricity Commissiontheir trucks carried new poles and transformers for the city, the 24 hours a day trying to restore the light. Although the buildings were left without equipment to receive energy. The people of Telcel He also tried to relocate his towers.
The palapas, chairs and tables Puerto Marques They vanished. The “bananas” and jet skis ended up on the roofs. In the luxury apartments in Diamond Zonethere was still robbery the first week; The local people took everything: mattresses, chairs, safes, washing machines, refrigerators, clothes, flip flops.
Some owners arrived with armed escorts to see what was left of their apartments. There was nothing left. A year after this hurricane, most of those luxury apartments are still destroyed or empty, everything seems to be in a kind of eternal black work, they have only managed to wall up the entrances.
Who failed? All. The lack of preparation of the municipality and the state government was evident: no public alerts for hurricanes in Acapulcothere are no pre-established shelters, there is no culture of prevention, there are no standards for hoteliers Not even the construction companies, there are no requirements, almost no one has disaster insurance, no one asks for it and no one watches those who build.
“Aesthetics” were privileged over safety. Business as usual, cheap is expensive, and corruption prevails. In Acapulco there are almost a million inhabitants and, it must be said, half live in misery. Everything should be rethought, security and social well-being.
A year later, tourism returned to Acapulco. Of course, before another hurricane –John– put the port to the test again. The rehabilitated hotels were filled again, but the scars can still be seen.
Half of the stranded yachts are still there waiting for the resolution of the insurers; the famous restaurant Barbarossa has already reopened; the three little frogs of ‘Mr. Frogs‘ that had been stolen reappeared, among other unusual events. Otis It taught us a lot about the resilience of a people, but it also exposed their vulnerabilities.
Our condolences to all the families who lost loved ones. We recognize the courage of the community, which came together to rebuild. His unbreakable spirit is an example for the entire nation.
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