Washington, D.C. (BWA)--Baptist World Aid (BWAid) has sent an initial sum of US$10,000 to aid victims of flooding in Mexico.

The floods, rising to as high as 19 feet, occurred last week when the Grijalva River burst its banks in Tabasco in southern Mexico, and have displaced approximately 800,000 persons.

"Because of the heavy rains and the flood, the people have lost all their belongings - houses, vehicles, food, clothes, and personal items," C.P. Raul Castellanos Fernandez, Chief Executive Officer of the National Baptist Convention of Mexico (CNBM), said. "Seventy percent of the state of Tabasco has been flooded," he reported.

CNBM has opened shelters and is appealing to Baptists to make donations in cash and kind.

Paul Montacute, director of BWAid, the relief and development arm of the Baptist World Alliance, said, "Yet again flood waters have inundated an enormous number of people, adding yet another flooding disaster to the list of 2007 disasters."

In assuring Baptists in Mexico of the support of the worldwide family of Baptists, Montacute said, "I know that our worldwide Baptist family will want to stand with their sisters and brothers in Mexico, as they provide care for those in need."

Donations to this and other relief efforts may be made to BWAid's Emergency Response Fund at www.bwanet.org/bwaid.