Deficient urban and coastal planning are contributing to heightened risk from hurricanes along Mexico's western seaboard on the Gulf of California, warns an environmentalist. “Many of the disasters are related to the poor urban planning and poor quality control, because there is no rigorous assessment of public or private projects,” Ernesto Bolado, director of the non-governmental SuMar-Voices for Nature, based in the western state of Sonora, told Tierramérica.

The region, on the Pacific gulf also known as the Sea of Cortés, since 2007 has been hit by Hurricane Henriette, tropical storm Julio and the cyclone Jimena.

“If we thought we were safe (because of Sonora's geographic location), we have to think again about the situation,” said Bolado.