A 30 años de Gilberto, el "huracán del siglo"

The hurricane of the century, the killer hurricane, the super hurricane—these are just some of the nicknames given to Hurricane Gilberto, which struck the Yucatán Peninsula on September 14th. But why did it cause so much damage? Why did so many things change in its wake? It's said that the authorities were slow to issue the warning… Thirteen hours later, the time it took Hurricane Gilberto to cross the Peninsula, it was already devastated, its foundations almost completely altered. Despite being caught completely off guard, the people of Yucatán did not give up in the face of the tragedy. In just one week, Hurricane Gilberto directly or indirectly impacted a dozen countries, and in all those places, the storm surge, winds, and torrential rains left a trail of death and destruction. But just as people sought to rebuild their lives after the hurricane, there were also houses, monuments, and iconic trees that resisted falling to what was dubbed the "hurricane of the century." For Eduardo Adolfo Batllori Sampedro, PhD in Geography, "Gilberto demonstrated Yucatán's vulnerability to hurricanes." However, as is evident in every emergency, the unwavering spirit of the Yucatecan people came to the fore, regardless of the shortages of food and water, or the sleepless nights.