Local Hearts, Aid Go Out to Tijuana Victims

With one destructive rainstorm barely over and another expected this weekend, people across Orange County spent Friday trying to step up relief efforts for flood victims in Tijuana.

Their efforts ranged from that of Angelica Orozco of Santa Ana, who spent Friday calling members of her church parish for donations, to Sergio Velazquez, publisher of a local Spanish-language weekly newspaper, who is organizing a large drive for relief supplies with the help of a Los Angeles radio station.

At least 14 deaths have been blamed on the torrential rains that have caused landslides and flooding in the Mexican border town since Thursday. Authorities estimate that more than 1,000 people were left homeless.

Some organizations, such as the Catholic Diocese in Orange County, will be taking up special collections for flood victims this weekend. Friday morning, Bishop Norman McFarland notified Orange County parishes that funds from the special collection will be forwarded to Bishop Emilio Carlos Berlie Belaunzaran of the Tijuana Diocese. People should make checks out to the Diocese of Orange and mark the checks “Tijuana Relief.”

Officials from the Orange County chapter of the Red Cross met Friday with church leaders and other organizers to coordinate efforts. The San Diego chapter has been designated as the official liaison with the Mexican chapter.

Spokesperson Judy Iannoccone said the Red Cross is taking calls from people who would like help reaching relatives in Tijuana, and is collecting financial contributions. The number is (714) 835-5381.

At the Santa Ana offices of Miniondas the Spanish-language paper published by Velazquez, office staff tried to keep up with nonstop phone calls from people asking about relief efforts. Velazquez said the paper is serving as a collection point for supplies he plans to take himself to Tijuana. He was planning to make his first relief trip late Friday.

Velazquez teamed with Humberto Luna, a disc jockey at Spanish language station KTNQ-1020 AM, to send out appeals for help. They were answered by large corporations such as Jack in the Box, which offered its restaurants as drop off sites for relief donations until Sunday.

The King Taco restaurant chain loaned Velazquez a large trailer equipped with its own freezer and cooking facilities. The company also plans to send about 15 employees to Tijuana with enough food to feed about 8,000 people, according to Roberto Morales, the company’s public relations director. Morales said the chain’s restaurants may also be used as drop-off points and that he will be among the staff meeting disc jockey Humberto Luna in Tijuana to distribute the supplies.

Velazquez put together a similar effort 14 years ago to help flood victims in Baja California.

“We started (then) from zero and in only five or six hours we got a lot of volunteers and people,” he said. “So it’s happening again this time and that’s good. No matter what kind of allegiance or what kind of race, everybody’s human.” Velazquez is taking offers of volunteer help at (714) 547-0701.

Meanwhile, citizens such as Angelica Orozco of Santa Ana have been calling parish members and friends to garner donations, arranging to use the St. Joseph’s rectory as a drop site. Orozco has relatives in Tijuana but said they were not harmed by the flooding.