I met today with the young National Guard officer assigned by Public Works to coordinate our program with government offices. Sharp navy blue shirt and trousers, perfectly pressed. When we first met a few days ago, I wasn’t sure what to expect. But as we began working together, it became clear he carries a genuine concern for his fellow citizens and a real desire to make an impact. He is also extremely organized and well informed. Every idea and every concern we raised was immediately relayed to the highest levels of government through him. He has been instrumental in moving the initial phase of the recovery process forward.
Daniel and I prepared with him for tomorrow’s activities — the first 25 engineers will be trained and deployed to the field. We went through every detail. This is an important day. These engineers will not only assess damage; they will evaluate reparability, feasibility, and produce accurate debris quantities for each neighborhood. After a long logistics discussion, everything finally aligned. New hope. This program will be the first pebble in the water. I could see he was moved by the direction the country is taking. There were tears in his eyes. His own neighborhood was destroyed, and this program could bring real hope.
By morning, we were standing in front of 25 engineers. Hector and Chuy — our Mexican experts — joined last night. Hector is a veteran of several disasters with us, and Chuy has been here supporting urban search and rescue. They immediately became part of the training team. Engineering capacity in this country is strong, but they have never encountered anything like this. Recovery and repair assessment is different from day to day design engineering. Some of the senior engineers will become trainers for the next wave. We plan to assemble 80 people by the end of next week.
I went around the room and shook each person’s hand. I introduced myself. It felt good to connect with them at a human level. I told them how important they are for this country — that people are waiting for them.
After a couple hours of in room training, we went back out to the International Hotel site at La Mar. Hector and I took a group of about ten engineers and went street by street, building by building, identifying repairable structures and quantifying materials and debris. Everything is organized through the prescribed app and GIS system. It was a hot, dusty day — heavy equipment clearing debris nearby — but the engineers worked quickly and accurately.
At one small social housing building that survived, a woman came out with a cheerful smile and said, “You are all welcome to come into my house to check everything.” Everything around her was destroyed, like a war zone, yet her home stood. Her strength in the middle of so much devastation was striking — a reminder of the resilience that lives here. We moved on to the next.
