The Hurricane Janet and the disaster of 1955 in Quintana Roo

study of a critical juncture

Abstract

The objective is to analyze, from a sociohistorical perspective, the disaster associated with Hurricane Janet occurred on September 27, 1955 in the state of Quintana Roo. The method was as follows: 6 semi-structured interviews in the city of Chetumal and 3 field trips with ethnographic collaborators. In addition, historical and hemerographic archives and official reports were reviewed. It is a qualitative study, using ethnography as a methodology for gathering information and grounded theory for its analysis. The results indicate that hurricanes have been a constant in the history of the territory occupied by Quintana Roo, however, Janet manifested in a scenario marked by the exhaustion of forestry activity, precarious infrastructure, fragility of food supply and corruption . It can be concluded that the characteristics of the context and the historical moment in which the natural phenomenon occurred had a substantial influence on its consequences. Thus, the disaster crystallized as a catalyst of the frustrations and complaints of the population regarding their living conditions and the management of the then Governor Margarito Ramírez, becoming a point of inflection, at a critical juncture.