This month Mexico has been rocked by two of its biggest earthquakes in decades, the second killing at least 230 people in Mexico City. Jesus Espinosa Herrera grew up in Chiapas state, where the first earthquake hit. He reports from Mexico on the scenes of solidarity he’s witnessing, and explains why many Mexicans are deeply distrustful of their government’s ability to help them. And deep inequalities in Mexican society are bound to affect recovery efforts. Luis Gómez Romero explains why Mexico City will be able to shoulder the devastation better than the country’s rural south where a history of economic exclusion and government neglect has left local people facing a long recovery.

In the Caribbean, residents have been battered by back-to-back monster hurricanes that have pummelled Puerto Rico and other islands. Levi Gahman and Gabrielle Thongs set out why poor communities and women in this region face greater risks.

In the Horn of Africa, poor rains have been blamed for the increasing famine, leading to thousands of children in need of life-saving aid. This is particularly true in a region in which agriculture is mainly non-irrigated. But the link is not so direct and the processes which lead to famine are much more complex, and include armed conflicts and poor infrastructures, explains Philippe Roudier.