SPECIAL REPORT ON HURRICANE MITCH
Last week, northern and western Nicaragua was hit by Hurricane Mitch, a storm that is being described as one of the deadliest natural disasters in the country's history. The latest news reports from Nicaragua place the death toll at 1,071. Of that number, at least 600 people are reported to have been killed in the town of Posoltega in the Chinandega province when a lake in a volcanic crater overflowed, producing massive mudslides. The Washington Post reported today that fewer than 100 of the 2000 residents of Posoltega had been found alive and that the rest were still missing. The mayor of the town told a local radio station, "It is like a desert littered with bodies." Defense Minister Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, who visited the town earlier today, declared that there could be as many as 1500 dead from the landslide alone.
Hurricane Mitch is the worst storm that Nicaragua has experienced since Hurricane Joan wreaked millions of dollars in damage in 1998. Mitch was a category 5 hurricane, the most severe classification. Meterologists have reported that the rain that fell during the first 24 hours of Mitch exceded the total that fell during the 1988 storm. Because of the severe flooding, 174 communities have been completely cut off and can only be reached by helicopter. Twenty-four roads, 35 bridges, and approximately 5,100 homes have been destroyed by the storm. Although the statistics are constantly changing, today's newspapers in Nicaragua confirm that approximately 70,000 have been left homeless and 2,018 are reported missing. To date, the army has evacuated 5,000 people, but because so many locations have been hit at once, and the army has only 7 helicopters, rescue efforts have been especially difficult. At the end of this report, we will provide specific information on the many towns that have been hit.
President Aleman has been widely criticized for the lack of seriousness with which he has handled the crisis. Last week, despite tremendous public protest, he refused to declare a state of emergency, and instead declared some of the most affected zones to be on "red alert." He explained this refusal by claiming that non-governmental organizations would take advantage of a "state of emergency" situation. He told reporters that if he were to declare a national emergency, "there would be a river of profits for many fishermen." Toward the end of the week, Aleman had softened his tone somewhat and began to tell the public that he was not declaring a state of emergency because only certain parts of the country had been affected. Sources have reported that the president also denied a delegation of Cuban doctors entrance into the country to assist the victims. During the 1988 hurricane, Cuban doctors had arrived on the Caribbean Coast to provide assistance even before the storm had ended.
We have received unconfirmed reports from Nicaragua that President Aleman this morning finally declared a state of emergency - nearly a week after Nicaragua was hit by the deadly storm. However, he has announced that all international aid should be channeled through the government. A number of major donations from international organizations have already been channeled through the First Lady, the president's daughter, Maria Dolores Aleman. This policy is completely consistent with Aleman's other efforts to cripple the progressive NGO sector and centralize control of the flow of humanitarian aid in the hands of the government. Even in the face of this unprecedented crisis, approximately 20 cargo containers are being impounded by Nicaraguan customs, with the government demanding that the non-governmental recipients of the shipments pay exorbitant taxes on this previously tax-exempt aid.
The Nicaragua Network, working in coalition with a number of other solidarity and faith-based organizations, has been involved with an intensive campaign to pressure the Nicaraguan government to release this aid and ensure that all NGO's be allowed to resume the shipment of tax-exempt aid. In light of the current emergency, we will turn up this pressure. No government should be allowed to impound material aid when there have been half a million people affected by a natural disaster of this magnitude.
The Nicaragua Network calls on all concerned citizens to host emergency fundraisers in your community or to make individual donations to assist the hurricane victims. Checks can be sent to the Nicaragua Network and we will channel the funds to the Augusto C. Sandino Foundation, Nicaragua's largest secular non-governmental organization, which has been involved in disaster relief efforts for over fifteen years. We channeled $80,000 in hurricane aid through the FACS in 1988 and can vouch for their effectiveness. Tax-deductible checks should be made out to NNEF/AGJ with "hurricane relief" written on the memo line. Send your donation to 1247 E Street, SE Washington, DC 20003.
A Pastors for Peace caravan is now beginning on five routes through the US. The trucks on the caravan are almost completely filled with aid for Nicaragua and Chiapas, but they can still add vehicles if communities would like to join. Several vehicles will be returning to the U.S., so late additions can caravan back home. Call the Pastors for Peace Chicago Office at 773-271-4817 for information.
Quest for Peace is launching a three-month hurricane aid campaign to ship rice and other products for disaster relief. Most needed are monetary donations to purchase the rice in the US since Central American rice is now scarce and expensive. Call Quest for Peace at 301-699-0042 for information about donating money, medicine, clothing, blankets, or other products.
The following is a compilation of reports that we have received from contacts in different regions and towns in Nicaragua. If you receive further information from your contacts in Nicaragua, please send it to the Nicaragua Network so that we can provide the most comprehensive information possible.
Managua: Towns near Lake Managua, at the northern tip of the city, are almost completely under water. The residents of the town of San Francisco Libre, which sits at the edge of the lake, have had to be evacuated by helicopter, since the main road leading to the town is completely impassable. According to the October 30 edition of the local daily newspaper La Prensa, some 2,500 people have been evacuated, and at last count 62 houses were flooded to the level of two feet of water. An aerial photo in the October 30 edition of the daily El Nuevo Diario of an area of San Francisco Libre outside the main town shows only the tops of trees left above the floodwaters. The town of Tipitapa, just outside of Managua, is also heavily inundated and almost inaccessible because of the flooded roads. [from Toby Mailman for the Weekly News Update on the Americas]
The Sandino Foundation reports that Managua is completely cut off from communication with the rest of the country and that 1,395 families in the capital have been left homeless.
Chinandega:
In the department of Chinandega, 800 times the normal precipitation has fallen for this time of year. Reports from municipal emergency committees in this western department estimate that 6,000 people are awaiting evacuation. In the municipality of the city of Chinandega there are close to 4,000 people in shelters, of whom more than half are children. Along the Pacific coast of that department, the shrimp industry is suffering great losses, with a preliminary estimate of US$30 million. Somotillo, in the north of Chinandega, is one of the hardest hit communities and the Panamerican Highway has been completely ripped apart at several points. The most current official statistics for the department of Chinandega are 29,000 people affected, 189 houses destroyed and 108 shelters in use. [from Anneli Tolvanen]
Matagalpa and Esteli:
In the northern departments of Matagalpa and Esteli, the situation is reported to be "very dramatic and dangerous" as mountainsides are threatening landslides of mud, water and rocks on homes that are located below. It has not been possible to establish communication with many of the communities in the area. One journalist reported that 3,500 people have been reported missing in Matagalpa. The reserves of emergency supplies that had been collected at the mayor's office in Esteli have been exhausted and it is reported that no supplies are coming into the city and there is little left to be purchased. Some merchants in Esteli are apparently taking advantage of the situation and increasing their prices. For a book of matches, regularly priced at half a cordoba, vendors are now asking as much as five cordobas. South of Esteli, in the community of La Trinidad, 500 people are reported to be isolated as a result of landslides with nowhere to go for refuge.
The mayor of San Pedro, north of Esteli, travelled close to eight hours through waters as high as to the waist to give a radio report on the situation in her community. That community has been completely isolated and after three days, 100 people have finally been able to leave in order to look for food. She talked about the children becoming ill and the hillsides threatening landslides. She also called on President Aleman to declare a national emergency so that more international aid can be accessed and to not politicize the disaster. [from Anneli Tolvanen]
According to October 30 morning radio news reports, in the northern town of Esteli alone, more than 25,000 people have been affected by the heavy rains. According to one Esteli resident all the schools are already filled with children who have had to leave their homes, and people living in the poorer neighborhoods, whose houses have been affected by the water flowing into them, have sought other shelter, some with family members who live in neighborhoods not so severely affected by the rains. In the northern town of Wiwili, it was reported on October 29 that 30 houses were washed away by a river which overflowed its banks, and in today's newspapers it was reported that 60 houses in that community are under water. [Toby Mailman]
Other: The Sandino Foundation reports that the destruction of bridges and roadways has also left the following provincial capitals cut off from the rest of the country: Jinotega, Sébaco, Granada, and León.
We will provide more detailed information on the situation in Nicaragua as it becomes available. We encourage you to send donations for the hurricane victims to the Nicaragua Network at 1247 E Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003. Our phone number is (202) 544-9355, our e-mail address is nicanet at igc.org.
================================================================ Weekly News Update on the Americas Nicaragua Solidarity Network of NY 339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012 212-674-9499 fax: 212-674-9139
Louis Proyect
(http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)