Mexico Tragedy Prompts Outpouring of Concern

When several freak explosions rocked Guadalajara last week, killing more than 200 people and injuring 1,400 others, shock waves were sent through the South Bay’s burgeoning Latino population.

Some anxious locals, concerned about relatives, rushed to LAX for last-minute flights to the damaged region. Those who stayed behind flooded telephone lines to Mexico’s second-largest city and began long-distance relief efforts ranging from special church collections to school fund-raising efforts.

“Phones have been ringing off the hook,” said a receptionist at the American Red Cross in Los Angeles, who cut an interview short to pick up another line. “They’re calling from Orange County, Sylmar, all over the place. In the South Bay, we’re getting a lot of calls from Inglewood, Torrance and Hawthorne.”

The tragedy began Wednesday morning when underground gas leaks set off a chain of explosions in the city’s sewer system, devastating a 26-block area and causing tens of millions of dollars in damage.

Soon after the blasts, many Southern California residents with family and friends in the area tried fruitlessly to learn if their loved ones had survived.

Rosa Martin, 46, a translator for the Inglewood Unified School District, said she first heard about the disaster on her car radio during her lunch hour, but she could not get in touch with a friend in Guadalajara until 10 p.m.

The friend told her that Martin’s sister and other relatives had not been harmed.

“I was worried all day,” she said. “It was so hard to concentrate at work. I saw on television that the explosions weren’t in my sister’s neighborhood, but you never know. People drive around the city.”

Similar tension dogged Inglewood butcher Jose Luis Gomez, 52, who divides his time between the Los Angeles area and Guadalajara, where several of his children are attending school.

At the time of the explosions, Gomez’s wife and three of his five children were in the city. Gomez learned of the blasts at 10 a.m. but could not get through to his family. One of his children there finally reached him at 8:30 p.m. to give him good news with a worrisome twist.

“She told me that everyone was fine,” he said. “But she said that that morning, they had been planning to go to the neighborhood where the explosions took place to pay the water bill. For some reason they didn’t go.”

Leaders of many South Bay churches plan to urge parishioners today to make donations to relief efforts for victims.

At the St. Joseph Church in Hawthorne, Pastor Joe Moniz said he would tell his largely Mexican congregation at masses how to make contributions through the Los Angeles Archdiocese.

At the Holy Family Catholic Church in Wilmington, Pastor Luis Valbuena said special collections for disaster relief would be taken at today’s services. Though many in the congregation have relatives in Guadalajara, he said, none had reported dead or injured family members as of Friday.

But the explosions, he said, appear to have created a climate of intense nervousness.

“People here are still concerned because they say there are all kinds of rumors in Guadalajara,” he said. “Some say they were told more explosions were expected. They are in a very insecure period.”

Schoolchildren are also pitching in--from a canned foods drive at La Tijera Elementary School in Inglewood to a cultural foods sale at Carson High School.

About a dozen ethnic student groups at Carson High, where about 40% of the students are of Mexican descent, have agreed to participate in the relief effort, said Fernando Arroyo, president of the school’s Latino students’ group.

“It’s a tragedy,” said Hector Garcia, the student body president at Carson High. “We’re trying to get the whole student body to help out.”

How to Help Disaster Victims

Here are some of the local relief efforts:

* The Federation of Clubs of Jalisco, a coalition of community groups connected with the Mexican state, has set up five relief centers throughout the area to accept donations of medicine, food and water, flashlights, tents, sleeping bags, and blankets, according to volunteer Wendy Granados. The closest center is at 5124 E. Olympic Blvd. in Los Angeles. Call (310) 249-9736 for information.

* The American Red Cross is taking donations--by credit card, check or money order--for its relief effort. Call (310) 739-4543 or send donations to the Red Cross, 2700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles 90057.

* The Los Angeles Roman Catholic Archdiocese has established a special emergency fund to aid victims of the tragedy. Send checks to Los Angeles Archdiocese--Guadalajara Aid, 1531 West 9th St., Los Angeles 90015.

Those wishing information on victims should call one of these numbers at the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles (all area codes 213): 351-6825, 351-6826, 351-6827, 351-6845, 351-6847.