IV 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 280 
Mourning the horrific loss of life caused by the floods and mudslides that 
occurred in October 2005 in Central America and Mexico and expressing 
the sense of Congress that the United States should do everything 
possible to assist the affected people and communities. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 27, 2005 
Mr. BURTON of Indiana (for himself, Mr. LANTOS, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. 
MENENDEZ, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. LEE, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. WELLER, 
Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. MACK, Ms. HARRIS, and Mr. FORTUN˜O) submitted 
the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on International Relations 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Mourning the horrific loss of life caused by the floods and 
mudslides that occurred in October 2005 in Central 
America and Mexico and expressing the sense of Con-
gress that the United States should do everything pos-
sible to assist the affected people and communities. 
Whereas on October 4, 2005, Hurricane Stan made landfall 
on Mexico’s Gulf coast, bringing sustained winds of 80 
miles per hour before weakening to a tropical storm and 
generating separate storms across southern Mexico and 
Central America; 
Whereas Hurricane Wilma, a category four hurricane, made 
landfall in Cozumel, Mexico on October 22, 2005, and
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stalled over the Yucatan Peninsula bringing over 60 
inches of rain to some parts of the Peninsula and causing 
severe flooding, over 75,000 evacuations, damaging be-
tween 30–40 percent of the houses in Cancun, and caus-
ing severe damage to the area’s vital tourism industry; 
Whereas the heavy rainfall associated with these storms 
caused widespread and severe flooding that has affected 
millions of people across Central America, including the 
people of Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Guatemala, and 
the people of Mexico; 
Whereas, as of October 12, 2005, the flooding had killed an 
estimated 2,000 people across Central America and Mex-
ico, according to government estimates which are ex-
pected to be revised upwards; 
Whereas rains have produced more than 900 landslides, bury-
ing entire villages and causing numerous deaths in Gua-
temala, with official government estimates confirming 
654 deaths, 577 people missing, and more than 120,000 
people affected across 621 communities in the provinces 
of Escuintla, Guatemala, Quetzaltenango, Chiquimula, 
San Marcos, Chimaltenango, El Quiche´, and Baja 
Verapa; 
Whereas many of the affected areas are especially vulnerable 
to natural disasters and lack access to basic healthcare, 
sanitation, and medical services; 
Whereas the flooding and landslides have damaged housing 
and public infrastructure in 251 of the 331 municipalities 
in Guatemala and sustained rains across much of the 
country have hampered ongoing relief efforts; 
Whereas two simultaneous emergencies in El Salvador—the 
severe flooding caused by Tropical Storm Stan and the
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eruption of the Santa Ana volcano on October 1, 2005— 
have affected half of the country and forced the evacu-
ation of more than 69,000 people to local shelters; 
Whereas Tropical Storm Stan caused massive flooding in the 
Mexican States of Veracruz, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Tabasco, 
Puebla, Hidalgo, and Guerrero and forced the evacuation 
of approximately 370,000 people from nearly 3,000 com-
munities to local shelters, according to the Government 
of Mexico; 
Whereas extensive rainfall in the Costa Rican provinces of 
Alajuela, Cartago, Guanacaste, Heredia, Puntarenas, and 
San Jose in the Pacific and Central Valley caused severe 
flooding and landslides, forcing more than 1,000 people 
in 459 communities to evacuate to local shelters, dam-
aged 550 houses, 117 bridges, and 11 educational build-
ings, and more than 281 roads have been blocked or 
damaged by mudslides; 
Whereas many families in these affected areas are homeless 
and in desperate need of reconstruction help; 
Whereas the United States Agency for International Develop-
ment’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/ 
OFDA) initially provided $150,000 to USAID/Guatemala 
for the local purchase and distribution of emergency re-
lief supplies, as well as for helicopter support, including 
fuel and rental of local helicopters and an additional 
$1,200,000 to USAID/Guatemala for emergency grants 
to nongovernmental organization partners for emergency 
health, water and sanitation, and shelter activities; 
Whereas USAID/OFDA committed $200,000 to support the 
Pan American Health Organization’s (PAHO) emergency
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health and water and sanitation activities as part of the 
United Nations joint appeal; 
Whereas USAID/OFDA is working closely with the Govern-
ments of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mex-
ico to coordinate transportation and distribution of relief 
commodities to affected communities and for the local 
purchase and distribution of emergency relief supplies, 
water, and food; 
Whereas on October 8, 2005, the United States Southern 
Command (USSOUTHCOM) deployed a 58-person team 
to Guatemala City to assist with ongoing disaster relief 
efforts in southwestern Guatemala and sent nine United 
States Army helicopters to conduct search and rescue 
missions and provide for the transportation of emergency 
relief supplies, including food, medical supplies, and com-
munications equipment, to affected areas, as well as fly-
ing in host nation firefighters, emergency aid workers, 
and doctors; and 
Whereas the United States initially has provided $100,000 to 
the Mexican Red Cross for the local purchase and dis-
tribution of emergency relief supplies to aid victims of 
Hurricane Wilma, and a USAID/OFDA team is working 
with USAID/Mexico, local disaster officials, and other or-
ganizations to assess impacts, aid requirements, and de-
liver further emergency assistance: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That— 
(1) Congress—
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(A) mourns the horrific loss of life caused 
by the floods and mudslides that occurred in 
October 2005 in Central America and Mexico; 
(B) expresses its deep condolences to the 
families of the many victims; 
(C) commits to provide the necessary re-
sources and to stand by the people of Costa 
Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico in 
the relief, recovery, and rebuilding efforts; 
(D) applauds the prompt humanitarian re-
sponse to this natural disaster by the United 
States Agency for International Development, 
the United States Armed Forces, and other de-
partments and agencies of the United States 
Government, the United Nations and other 
international organizations, and nongovern-
mental organizations; 
(E) recognizes the growing support by 
international donors for relief efforts; 
(F) affirms its commitment to additional 
United States support for relief and long-term 
reconstruction efforts in areas affected by the 
flooding; 
(G) urges continued attention by donors 
and relief agencies to the needs of vulnerable
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populations in the stricken countries, particu-
larly those left homeless by this disaster and 
whose welfare and economic livelihoods have 
been disrupted; 
(H) urges assistance which targets imme-
diate and long-term infrastructure needs, with a 
special emphasis on improvements that aim to 
increase emergency preparedness and withstand 
future natural disaster events; and 
(I) encourages the Administration and 
other international donors to provide immediate 
and long-term assistance for the reconstruction 
of affected infrastructure that is a requisite for 
the economic and social development of the dev-
astated communities; and 
(2) it is the sense of Congress that it should be 
the policy of the United States— 
(A) to promote economic growth and im-
proved living standards, reduce poverty, and 
promote democracy and the rule of law in the 
countries of Central America; 
(B) in concert with multilateral humani-
tarian organizations, the Organization of Amer-
ican States and the Inter-American Develop-
ment Bank, to actively support the reconstruc-
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tion of affected communities in places to be de-
termined by respective governments in collabo-
ration with representatives of such commu-
nities; 
(C) to expedite humanitarian relief and re-
construction efforts in order to mitigate the im-
mediate and long-term threats to public health, 
economic development, and security in Central 
America; 
(D) to provide technical assistance to Cen-
tral 
American 
governments 
in 
order 
to 
strengthen the capacity of first responders and 
governmental institutions at the national, pro-
vincial, and local levels in the area of disaster 
management coordination and preparedness, in-
cluding information and communications sys-
tems to help with the response to natural disas-
ters; and 
(E) to encourage the governments of these 
countries to improve disaster mitigation tech-
niques and compliance among all key sectors of 
their societies. 
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