Flooding leaves thousands homeless in Honduras

Photos: The Micah boys take donations into the school in our community for the families that have lost their homes. The hill in the background is one of the at-risk areas for landslides.


This month is the ten year anniversary of hurricane Mitch, a category five storm that left Honduras in tatters, which blew through Honduras in the last week of October, 1998. Like some kind of nightmarish déjà vu , three weeks of solid rains this month have left people describing it as "hurricane Mitch in slow motion." According to the Honduran newspaper El Heraldo, 29 people have died and 670,000 have been affected by the flooding or landslides. And according to a report on Reuters, "more than 800mm (almost three feet) of rain has fallen over the past several days in some areas - more than the total rainfall unleashed by the devastating Hurricane Mitch 10 years ago." (http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/241510/122479013349.htm) The President has declared a national emergency, and relief agencies are gearing up to help.





Just two blocks from the Micah House, 35 families have been moved into the public elementary school after losing their homes in mudslides. This morning, some of the Micah boys and I bought food, water and diapers for the families in the makeshift shelter (see photos above). The families are divided into the different classrooms of the school, and school officials and neighbors are coordinating the distribution of aide.





When we talked to the woman in charge of the shelter at our neighborhood school, she said that certain areas of our neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods are at risk of greater damage in the days to come. Because many houses are built with sub-standard practices and are literally clinging to the side of hills, the rain is saturating the foundations to the point that they give way.





One of our boy's families, that of little Maycol, is living in one of these at risk areas. Their home...a shack really...is built on three rotting stilts, which hold up the wooden floor. Even three weeks ago, the downhill side of the house started to sink. Today, we may move the family temporarily in order to avoid the danger of a landslide. For now, we may put them in a spare room at our Leadership House until we can find a more permanent solution.





I will keep you apprised of the situation here in our neighborhood and in Honduras.





Muchas gracias,





Michael Miller