Our ongoing environmental and social outreach activities were supplemented by unplanned actions in 2002, and we were proud to see CEMEX people react to emergency situations with immediate help.

For instance, when Hurricane Isidore unleashed its force on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, CEMEX's Operations in Merida escaped with only minor damage and no serious injuries to people. The surrounding area did not fare as well. Fallen trees and flooding caused great damage to homes and other infrastructure. Many people were without food, safe drinking water, and electricity.

Almost immediately, CEMEX's Operations in Merida took action to help its neighbors. CEMEX personnel helped to organize and implement an effort to purchase and distribute enough food to feed 6,700 local families, and to help repair damaged homes.

The company also moved quickly to rent a mobile water treatment plant to provide safe drinking water to the community. In less than a month, more than 120,000 liters were distributed. In addition, the plant's Preventive Medicine unit provided information to employees and other community residents on appropriate health practices in a region struck by a natural disaster.

When the European Union ordered the extermination of diseased cows and other animals to protect public health, many countries turned to the cement industry for help in incinerating in cement kilns the processed powder-like waste product.

CEMEX joined this effort in 2002 by accepting the processed waste from the areas of Valenciana, Castilla-La Mancha, and Aragon. The CEMEX Alicante, Buñol and Castillejo plants did
so over a six-month period and stayed well within emissions guidelines established for the project by the Spanish environmental authorities, while maintaining operation efficiency and the quality of our product.