Hurricane Robs Maya of Vital Fruit Trees

A resident sits near his destroyed house after the passing of Hurricane Dean in Limones southeastern Mexico, in the Yucatan peninsula, Wednesday, Aug. 22 2007. Hurricane Dean, which crashed into the Caribbean coast of Mexico on Tuesday as the strongest hurricane to hit land in the Atlantic region since 1988, is now over the Veracruz region, forecasters said. (AP Photo/Israel Leal) (Israel Leal - AP)

The biggest threat to the Maya may not be the damage to their homes, though their stick huts lay splintered, thatch roofs blown away. It's the natural environment they so heavily depend on _ innumerable felled trees from which the Maya extract everything from chewing gum to fruit to hardwood. The dead wood could also spark forest fires when the dry season comes.

"The greatest damage was done to the nature areas, that is what suffered the greatest impact," said Luis Alberto Rivera, the Quintana Roo state public safety director.

The Maya launched one of North America's last Indian revolts in the lower Yucatan Peninsula in 1850 _ a bloody rebellion that the Mexican government could not halt until 1901. Even now, suspicions about outsiders run deep _ and despite the catastrophic winds Dean packed, some community leaders carrying machetes turned away soldiers trying to evacuate people.

"They didn't want to leave," said Gen. Alfonso Garcia, who ran the shelters in Felipe Carrillo Puerto, which could have held many more people from outlying communities.

As early as Monday, Mexico will begin distributing a total of $10.3 million in cash grants to people who lost crops, Agriculture Secretary Alberto Cardenas Jimenez said.

"The poorest and smallest are those who we'll most help immediately," he said, explaining that the contingency fund also will be tapped to help large commercial operations that lost chile, corn, grain, papaya, coconut, banana, sugarcane and honey.

Still, the Maya have learned to make the best of their situation, with or without the government.

"The government dispenses some resources here," Yeh said, studying the fallen tree. "But the community still helps itself."

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Associated Press Writer Istra Pacheco in Mexico City contributed to this report.