From September 11th to 14th, seven civil organizations carried out a Humanitarian Aid Observation Mission (MOAH in its Spanish acronym) that toured communities in the Isthmus area of ​​Tehuantepec, which were affected by the earthquake of 8.2 on the Richter scale on September 7th, leaving victims in 283 municipalities of Oaxaca, almost half of the total.

The route covered Ixhuatan, Juchitan de Zaragoza, Matias Romero, Pachiñe River, San Dionisio del Mar, Pueblo Nuevo (Municipal Agency of San Francisco del Mar), San Mateo del Mar, Santa Maria Xadani and Unin Hidalgo.

In their main conclusions, the organizations noted that “the basic needs of the people affected by the earthquake have not been covered”; and that there is “a lack of government coordination in the distribution of humanitarian aid and the discretionary use of scarce resources that have reached the area.”

They also denounced that “candidates and public officials have fallen into opportunism by conditioning humanitarian aid by handing it over to people close to the government and political parties, some even re-labeling and rechanneling food arriving in the area.”

They also stressed that “this crisis situation adds to the preexisting conditions of exclusion, inequality and poverty in which many people and communities in the region visited were found. Therefore, the MOAH emphasizes that in the face of the serious disaster situation caused by the earthquake, affected people are holders of rights, NOT objects of help, and therefore their voice must be heard first during this stage of response and the future stage reconstruction and recovery.”

For more information in Spanish:

Respuesta inadecuada e insuficiente de los tres niveles de gobierno ante desastre por sismo en Oaxaca: ONGs (ONGs, 18 de septiembre de 2017)

Desastre natural exhibe la miseria humana de los políticos y sus partidos que lucran en medio de la desgracia (Página 3, 18 de septiembre de 2017)

DECLARATORIA de Desastre Natural por la ocurrencia de sismo con magnitud 8.2 el 7 de septiembre de 2017, en 283 municipios del Estado de Oaxaca (Diario Oficial, 14 de septiembre de 2017)

Organizaciones denuncian oportunismo político, tras sismo en Oaxaca (Contralínea, 18 de septiembre de 2017)

Misión Humanitaria condena el oportunismo político ante la tragedia en Oaxaca (Proceso, 18 de septiembre de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Nacional: sismo de 8,2 grados Richter. Fuertes afectaciones en Chiapas y Oaxaca (14 de septiembre de 2017)