Hurricane Mitch: Great disaster in Honduras
The affectation of Hurricane Mitch came to highlight what other meteorological phenomena in the past had caused, that Central America despite being in a natural area of storms and hurricanes, lacks prevention systems, early alert, mitigation and attention Reconstructive adequate after the passage of these cyconic events, not including the high vulnerability of the population that lives in rural, peri -urban areas and marginal neighborhoods of the main cities of Central America. But at the level of countries, Honduras was one of those who suffered a greater magnitude of losses, as it was where at least 70% of the affected population and almost 68% of direct and indirect economic damages were concentrated. In Honduras, total losses were US $ 3.6 billion, equivalent to 77% of GDP.
Hurricane Mitch was one of the most violent hurricanes of the 20th century. The disaster began on October 26, 1998, when the hurricane appeared at the Northeast of Honduras. This toured the northern zone at a destructive speed of 250km per hour causing unimaginable damage, this destruction days until October 30 began to go to the south of the country, becoming a tropical storm. For five consecutive days, this storm of torrential rains of more than 600mm that led to the overflow of rivers throughout the country and floods of water and mud at levels never seen before.
The overflow of the Cangrejal River caused huge destruction and damage in Atlantis in buildings on the edge of the Fío; The intense wave of the sea destroyed housing and hotel infrastructure on the banks of the Atlantic coast. from the Aguán River and its turbulent current violently impacted most of the communities of the Aguán Valley, whose inhabitants remained for a long time without basic services. particularly affecting the entire Atlantic coast, the central zone and the southern zone.
This terrible catastrophe left almost 1,500,000 victims, including 5,657 dead, 8,058 missing, 12,272 injured and 285,000 people who lost their homes, forcing them to take refuge in more than 1,375 temporary shelters, formed by schools that were enabled after the classes had suspended. Sports facilities also served these purposes, as well as improvised fields in parishes and other sites with tents received as part of international aid.
Among the most affected inhabitants were those from rural areas, since most of these people saw their devastated crops, their unusable soils and their lost animals. They had run out of 30 percent of their family agricultural production, and many of them had also lost their jobs in the export sector. At the same time, in many small cities artisans and merchants saw their work centers, their tools and their positions in the markets, with few or no hope for many of them of rehabilitation.
In addition to this, it is estimated that 60% of the road infrastructure was severely damaged, because at least 424 roads, 189 bridges and 107 roads were unusable leaving at least 81 incommunicado cities. In the agricultural sector, according to data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the hurricane Mitch swept a third of the basic crops of grains and beans in Honduras, and about 40 percent of the bananas and bananas plantations for cooking. In total, 70% of crops were seriously affected, mainly coffee, banana and pineapple, crops that in total represented an amount greater than US $ 800 million.
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