 Officials set up emergency water purification plants in Acapulco , though water remained largely unavailable . Water trucks were sent to the city , with thousands standing in line for fresh water . Tourists in luxury hotels of Acapulco , for the most part generally unaffected by the hurricane , and rapidly recovered while other parts of the city remained devastated . Hotels were forced to use bottled water and ration their available water to as little as possible to provide water for the rest of the city . Extreme price gouging occurred in the city following the hurricane , with one consumer protection official reporting shopkeepers charging 200 percent more for milk , 500 percent more for tortillas , and 1000 percent more than usual for water . Even though the government was blamed for lack of warnings and water shortages , Ernesto Zedillo , the president of Mexico at that time , cut his vacation in Europe short to respond to the catastrophe . Government officials set up 39 aid centers for Acapulco citizens , though some residents were unable to get food and water . Some residents suspected than the President and his Institutional Revolutionary Party of taking aid supplies for their own purposes . The president promised to seek charges and decided to close aid centers in favor of opening soup kitchens . Despite having the food , the Mexican army did not set up the kitchens , nor was aid distributed at the aid centers . 
