The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that as many as 500,000 people have no access or limited access to drinking water four months after two disastrous hurricanes hit Central America.
People are still suffering due to lack of hygiene and sanitation facilities as the water infrastructure has not been completely rebuilt. Jean Gough, UNICEF Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, visited a couple of communities in Nicaragua and his descriptions of the damage are shocking.
“The level of destruction left by these two mighty hurricanes one after the other goes beyond our imagination. Boats drifted hundreds of meters away from the shore, trees were smashed like matchsticks , and roofs were lifted up by destructive sea currents, winds, and rain,” he said.
Gough pointed out that people can no longer rely on the rain as a source of safe water as well and the lack of water affects children by causing diarrhea and malnutrition.
It is not only the water infrastructure that was damaged as a result of the hurricanes. UNICEF has assessed that Iota and Eta destroyed over 260 schools, blocking children from attending classes. The most seriously impacted are indigenous and rural communities in the northern part of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua. About 1.8 million people – almost a third of the total population, with 720,000 children among them, still rely on humanitarian assistance.
According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s assessment, even more people, as many as 3 million, could become affected by the consequences of the two hurricanes. Moreover, 220,000 ha of permanent and annual crops and 42,000 livestock were lost and 4,000 fishermen have lost the equipment that enabled them to earn money and feed their families. 40% of all those affected by both hurricanes come from Nicaragua with the government estimating that the most damage occurred in Jinotega, Matagalpa, Nueva Segovia, Rivas, Chinandega, and the Mining Triangle regions.
Hurricanes Eta and Iota struck Nicaragua in November 2020, the first being category 4 and the second category 5, together impacting 60% of the entire Nicaraguan territory. Torrential rains and winds reaching speeds of 225 km/h caused flooding and landslides that flattened houses and destroyed agricultural infrastructure.
Unfortunately, as climate changes continue, the Central American region may expect more such extreme weather events. All tropical storms that form in the Atlantic Ocean in the storm season eventually hit some part of the Caribbean region every year, causing more and more losses.
This prompts the question as to whether it makes sense to rebuild houses and agriculture infrastructure in locations that are especially vulnerable to hurricanes and that will almost certainly be the target of future extreme storms. The authorities has not figured out a solution.
The community living in Haulover in Miskito Coast found their village totally destroyed when Iota hit last autumn. While some families decided to rebuild their houses and stay close to the ocean, about 60 families chose to move inland where their houses and agricultural activity would not become a victim of the next storm even though this means they will have to change their farming practices which will move them away from the traditions of their ancestors.
