Dengue fever, which in its most severe hemorrhagic form can lead to brain damage and death, is endemic in Tabasco, but there has been no spike in the number of cases. Likewise, malaria and cholera have yet to rear their ugly heads.

But no one is celebrating just yet.

Dengue and malaria, for example, have a nearly weeklong incubation period, so cases could spring up in the coming days. Mexico's last outbreak of cholera occurred in 1997 when health officials reported 2,356 cases.

"We have teams of firefighters," said Dr. Miguel Betancourt, the Mexican government's director for health emergencies, referring to the massive deployment of doctors, nurses and sanitation officials to Tabasco. "But the idea is to stop the fire from starting in the first place."

Betancourt runs what he calls a "medical intelligence" operation from an air-conditioned mobile command center from which he can confer with colleagues in Mexico City via video conference. Poring over maps of Villahermosa, a city of 500,000, he said he was ready to act in the case of an epidemic but said the government is focusing all its forces on prevention.

NOT ONLY are the Mexicans running "medical intelligence," instead of pretending they can play guitar, but they are even thinking of the emotional health of la gente.

Psychologists have set up shop in the refugee centers, counseling flood victims on how to deal with the overdose of trauma and tragedy.

Then, there are the more unconventional forms of treatment.

At one shelter on Thursday, a 10-piece Mariachi band let loose with a rousing set of tunes.

Crowds gathered round, smiling, dancing and screaming for encores.

'This relaxes you,' said Diana Patricia Montero, 24, as the trumpets blared. 'For a moment, you can feel good.'

—Health worries cloud recovery in Mexico

It's important to keep hope. And mariachi. Let's hope that the destruction of so many homes, livelihoods, and crops do not prove too harmful to nuestra gente en México.

MEXICO CITY — Massive flooding in the southern state of Tabasco practically wiped agricultural crops from citrus to chocolate, threatening the main source of income for about one-third of the state's 2 million people, officials said on Thursday.

The floods, which began in late October, covered as much as 80 percent of the state's territory.

"One hundred percent of all the crops and agricultural fields have been lost because of the flooding," said Rafael Tosca, deputy director for the trade department of the Tabasco Economy Ministry.

"All the agricultural areas in the state are located in the flat and lower-lying areas and these have all been flooded, most of them are still under water and it will take a long time to clean it up," Tosca said in a telephone interview.

The crops affected include corn, citrus, sugar cane, cocoa, and bananas. Vast numbers of cattle have been drowned or are cut off by flood waters.

—Health worries cloud recovery in Mexico

And finally: the title of my post may come across that I am saying this is a smaller disaster than Katrina was for the USA. Trust that I am not disrespecting the unique quality of the floods in dear madre México, nor that I am saying it's over or that the harm from such a drastic event is done doing its work. I think I'm—again—hoping that this is the case.