Cologne/Villahermosa. Malteser International intensifies its assistance in the flooded Mexican State of Tabasco. After already having delivered seven barrels of relief supplies last week, a second shipment of ten tons of food, hygiene products and livelihood support arrives in the disaster area today. "We distribute food, drinking water, blankets and soap to the victims. And we provide hospitals with medicines and medical equipment so that they can treat pregnant women, newborns and wounded people," says Julieta Conroy Paz, director of the Foreign Aid Work of the Mexican Association of the Order of Malta. In some parts of Tabasco, the water is still 15 feet high. The helpers of the Order of Malta also go the most remote regions to help the people who until now did not receive any assistance. "A lot of people have been holding out in the water for days now and are very desperate", Conroy Paz says.

But not only emergency relief is urgently needed; the flooded regions also must be supported with the reconstruction. "Nobody can live here anymore, everything is in pieces", Julieta Conroy Paz says. "Therefore, we need longterm assistance to help the people to build up their homes again."