With Hurricane Wilma battering its way through Florida as I write this, the focus has quickly shifted from the Yucatan Peninsula and Mexico where at last count at least 8 people are dead. One would think that in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the English language mainstream media would be more aware or at the very least, cautious, in how it covers such natural disasters and the populations impacted. As I watched CNN throughout the weekend I saw mostly North American tourists complaining about having to sleep next to urinals in their fancy hotels. Yesterday tourists being filmed waiting in line for food complained about not showering for four days. The question that weighed heavy in their minds and across the screen was, when the airports would open so that they could get the hell out.

The question that loomed in my mind was and the residents of Cancun, the workers that service these tourists , the ones that can’t escape and their families and their homes? I would have to switch over to the Spanish language news to find out about them. Univision interviewed families returning to their homes or what was left of them after Wilma. It was only here and on Telemundo where one could see brown faces crying. According to today’s L.A. Times an estimated 15,000 people are left homeless by the storm and 90% of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo remains without power.

The region, which relies heavily on tourist dollars, certainly has taken an economic hit because of the hurricanes this season. Wilma struck hardest along a 14-mile stretch of high-rise hotels that spans Cancun’s south coast. Early estimates have the damage estimated at tens of millions of dollars. According to Mexico’s secretary for the environment and natural resources the heavy construction and demand to further develop tourist areas weakened the city’s natural storm barriers and might have contributed to the serious flooding.

The coverage now turned to Florida and of course looters in Mexico, one is left wondering if the U.S. will return the favor of at the very least sending personal down to the Yucatan, the way Mexico sent people up to the Gulf Region after Katrina.

Via / L.A. Times and Univision