EDITORIAL: Facing widespread tragedy, Mexico needs our help

Salem News (MA)

Sept. 22--Stories of anguish and loss from Mexico this week have been heart wrenching. One of the most tragic involves the Enrique Rebsamen elementary school in Mexico City, where a wing of the building was flattened by Tuesday's 7.1 magnitude earthquake. At least 19 children and six adults were killed, according to The Associated Press.

Loss and grief were widespread. The earthquake that toppled dozens of buildings in Mexico City killed 250 people and injured nearly 2,000 others. And it caused similar devastation throughout the country.

About 70 miles to the south of Mexico City, chunks of ceiling and mortar crumbled from atop the Santiago the Apostle Catholic Church during the earthquake, killing 11 people. Among those was 3-month-old Elideth Torres de Leon, whose baptism had been interrupted when the earthquake struck.

The victims included her 8-year-old sister, her mother and other members of their family. Instead of a baptism, the isolated community of Atzala was left to hold a funeral Mass and come to terms with what one surviving family member called "profound pain."

Such deep losses as those suffered by Mexico have a way of drawing people closer and narrowing the divisions of language and politics. A couple hours after the earthquake, President Donald Trump tweeted: "God bless the people of Mexico City. We are with you and will be there for you."

The president's expression of solidarity and support wouldn't be remarkable but for the tension that has lingered between him and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto since last year's U.S. elections. Trump made building a Mexican border wall -- and sending the bill to Mexico -- a fixture of his campaign. He railed against illegal immigration and drugs flowing into the U.S. from overseas suppliers, hanging much of the blame on Mexico.

The discord has never quite gone away, and it flared again earlier this month, as the sides bristled over one another's responses to their respective natural disasters.

When Hurricane Harvey inundated Texas with rain and flooding, Mexico offered help, but the U.S. government did not readily accept. Nor did Trump immediately acknowledge a much larger, 8.2 magnitude earthquake that struck central Mexico and killed 95 people. After that, the Mexican government withdrew its offer to help Houston. The White House later released a statement of condolences for those killed and the damage done during the Mexican earthquake and Hurricane Katia.

This uncomfortable lurching stands in sharp contrast to the historic ties between the U.S. and Mexico, at least in recent times, when it comes to confronting disaster. Mexican journalist Leon Krauze notes in a recent column for the Washington Post that in the aftermath of the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, which killed thousands, first lady Nancy Reagan visited Mexico and toured the destruction within a week's time. When Hurricane Katrina raked New Orleans, Mexico dispatched 45 army trucks and 200 troops to help.

The point is not to compare national and natural disasters, or size up who sent what to whom. It's that regardless of differences over borders and immigration, politics and trade, our countries are better when we have each other's backs -- just as neighbors do in times of tragedy.

We in North America have had more than our share lately, between major earthquakes and powerful storms.

Responding to the needs of our own citizens left devastated by hurricanes -- in Houston, the Florida Keys, Puerto Rico -- surely gives the president plenty to handle. But as our neighbors to the south suffer, humanity and the community of this corner of the world dictate that we help there, as well. Amid the awful tragedy in Mexico this week, it was good to see Trump appear to offer that much.

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