Hurricane Ida roared through Central America leaving over
a 130 dead and thousands displaced in Nicaragua and El Salvador. The category 1 hurricane touched down in Nicaragua on Thursday, November 5, and was later downgraded to a tropical storm. Already
reeling from flooding two months prior, the five-day onslaught of rain caused the Coco and Sisin Rivers to burst their banks and inundate the surrounding communities. Homes built on mountainsides and
precipices were swept away by mudslides. Aid efforts in Nicaragua are hindered by the difficulty in accessing the most impacted areas. Bridges and roads have been washed away, the ferry is
not functioning, and only small passenger planes are piloted into this remote area of the country. The Nicaraguan government estimates that there are 8,000 people displaced by Ida, around 530 damaged
homes and 200 contaminated water sources. Catholic Relief Services is coordinating with the government and the U.N. for the delivery of food and other items to 3,000 people. The contaminated water
sources are of particular concern as this can have a detrimental impact on the overall health of each community and particularly on children and the elderly who are the most susceptible to waterborne
disease. CRS is providing plastic Jerry cans and chlorine for 1,000 families to help purify their water supply.CRS was already responding to a previous natural disaster with a $75,000
emergency agricultural recovery project that included livestock and assistance in replanting bean and corn crops in the Mosquito Coast area along the Nicaraguan border with Honduras. The region was
struggling to recover from a total crop loss resulting from a Tropical depression in Mid-August. Flooding earlier this year decimated bean and maize fields, and the region populated by the Miskito
people, had their newly replanted crops swept away again by the rising waters and heavy rains. Long-term recovery in the region will depend not only on providing food staples and supplies in the near
future, but also on assisting Miskito communities with replanting crops before the end of the rainy season."We have to think beyond the immediate needs and look at how this storm is going to
affect the region a couple of months from now," says Hugh Aprile, CRS Country Representative in Nicaragua, " In order to mitigate a future food shortage we need to replant as soon as the floodwaters
subside. This will help to ensure self-sufficiency and provide the staple bean and corn crops to sustain their families through the dry season, if we don't respond immediately these communities will
go for a long time without being able to produce their own food and will have rely more heavily on outside aide."A low-pressure system drawn in from the pacific by Hurricane Ida pummeled El
Salvador with rains so heavy they rivaled the intensity of Hurricane Mitch over 10 years ago. The Salvadoran National Weather Service (El Servicio Nacional de Estudios Territoriales) reports that 355
mm (14 inches) of rain, pelted the area surrounding the San Vicente volcano in only four hours. The communities of Verapaz and Tepetitan were partially buried by a downpour of mud that swept the sides
of the volcano as a result of the rainstorm. The Salvadoran government has declared a state of emergency and wide-scale relief efforts have been put in place. Over 130 have been reported dead and
13,680 in shelters. CRS is working with our partner Caritas San Vicente to help meet the needs of the affected community. "The Salvadoran government is well equipped to provide immediate
shelter and food," says Gleeson, "but the long term needs will become more apparent one or two weeks from now when people go back to their communities and there is three feet of mud in their rooms or
a boulder has landed on their homes-it's going to require sustained relief effort to get their lives back in order after the emergency abates."How to Help:Donate via
phone: 1-877-HELP-CRSDonate online: www.crs.orgWrite a check: Catholic Relief ServicesP.O. Box 17090Baltimore, Maryland 21203-7090# # #Catholic Relief Services is the international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. The agency provides assistance to people in more than 100 countries and territories
based on need, regardless of race, nationality or creed. For more information, please visit www.crs.org or www.crsespanol.org.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
An Albanian man tries to stay dry as he passes a flooded street in Balldrenje village, in the Lezhe district some 80 km (50 miles) northwest of the capital Tirana November ...
