Recent Honduras Flooding Stresses Importance of Sustainable Post-Mitch Rebuilding Efforts

Cynthia Long, Staff Writer, DisasterRelief.org
As Hurricane Floyd deluged the East Coast of the United States, torrential rains in Central America caused flooding and mudslides that killed at least 17 people, damaged roads, and destroyed hundreds of homes. In Honduras the flooding swamped areas that have yet to recover from Hurricane Mitch, emphasizing the importance of long-term, sustainable relief projects in a country prone to disasters.

A tropical weather system related to Hurricane Floyd dumped intense rains of 2.4 inches a day in Honduras. Winds and thunderstorms generated by the storm cut off power and telephones, flooded homes, and caused landslides that blocked several highways. At least four people were killed in the flooding, about 5,000 families were evacuated, and 9,000 people were stranded when high water cut off roads to their towns. At the beginning of the week authorities were still searching for bodies.

"Tegucigalpa is vulnerable after the tragedy of Mitch . . . and this worries the authorities and generates anxiety among the people," said International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) spokesman Oscar Triminio. Anxiety continued to grow as more rain fell, cutting off roads to hundreds of villages, leaving thousands homeless, and contaminating water supplies in and around the capital, Tegucigalpa.

It's no surprise that people were anxious. While no where near as devastating, the recent flooding evoked painful memories of Hurricane Mitch--a catastrophic storm from which thousands of Hondurans are still trying to recover. But this week's flooding also served as a reminder that the recovery work from Mitch must be sustainable so that communities are better prepared to handle the inevitable disasters of the future.

Besides broadcasting public service announcements and distributing educational pamphlets on hurricane preparedness to individual communities and families, the American Red Cross is trying to build into its Hurricane Mitch relief work a foundation for protecting communities from future storms. Initiatives include broad efforts like relocating entire neighborhoods to areas safe from flooding and storm surge to more specific mitigation projects such as building more durable water systems.

With the help of the American Red Cross, Juan Quiroz is determined to build a community better able to respond to another hurricane or flood. He and his family used to live in Barrio Gualiqueme in southern Honduras--a small, intimate village of about 200 people that was washed away in the floods of Hurricane Mitch. Now Quiroz and 25 other families who miraculously survived the deluge live in Nueva (new) Gualiqueme, a community that exemplifies the collaborative efforts of societies within the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The German Red Cross (GRC) has built new cement block homes for the families while a sturdy water and sanitation system is being installed by the American Red Cross.

Quiroz is the president of the Junta de Agua (water board) in his new village. With his obvious leadership qualities, Quiroz was a fitting choice for the position. After Gualiqueme was destroyed, he led an expedition to find land where the village could rebuild.

He then organized a group of men to clear the land and start building new homes with whatever scraps they could find. They named their new village Villa Bertilio after a wealthy Honduran family who donated the plot, and were beginning to fashion primitive scrap metal dwellings when IFRC offered to help.

Rather than scrap metal and wood, GRC supplied sturdy cement blocks and showed the families how to build new homes with them. The American Red Cross began the installation of a water and sanitation system, again with the help of the community members, that will allow each of the 26 homes to have an indoor sewage system.

The people of the new village take care of all the manual labor--they helped install a new pump, are working to construct a storage tank, and are digging holes for piping to each of the homes.

"A huge part of our water and sanitation program is the education of the community so that systems are sustainable," said Daniel Haddock, American Red Cross Water and Sanitation Delegate for Honduras. "Communities need to learn about the operation and maintenance of the system to ensure it's future success."

To facilitate this process, the American Red Cross asks communities to elect a junta de agua to take charge of the administration and operation of the system. "This allows the community to feel ownership of their water system. Because it wasn't just given to them, because they worked for it, the community will take care of the system and keep it in good operating condition," Haddock said.

Within the junta de agua are other elected posts besides the president, such as a secretary and treasurer, who help run the water and sanitation system much like a small water utility in the United States. They keep records of who their customers are and set fees for users that will cover costs and allow funds to be set aside for repairs and maintenance. They also hire and pay a fontanero (plumber) who cleans out tanks, repairs leaks, performs new system hook-ups, and adds chlorine to the water.

But beyond administering the system, hygiene education--generally directed toward women at home and children in the schools--is essential to a successful water and sanitation program.

The importance of hand washing, the proper use of latrines, and boiling or chlorinating water in the home are all emphasized to the community as part of sanitary water use.

"By building a water and sanitation system we're laying the groundwork for safe water, but without hygiene education you don't accomplish what you set out to do," Haddock said. "There used to be pressure to get into a community and build a new water system as quickly as possible after a disaster, but without hygiene education and the training of the community to administer and operate the system, you don't get the long-term benefits."

A few miles down the road from Nueva Gualiqueme, two hurricane-ravished communities--Marcovia and El Chaparro--have merged to form the new 300-family community of Nueva Marcovia. Here the the American Red Cross and GRC are again collaborating to fund the town's development; the American Red Cross is installing water and sanitation systems and GRC is building homes.

The people of Marcovia and El Chaparro were hit hard by the hurricane. Their towns sat close to the Rio Choluteca and were deluged by the surging waters. Along with their homes, their livelihoods were washed away by the floods.

Most of the men in the communities were employed by the plantations near their villages but the fields where they worked were severely damaged by the flooding. Mud and silt-filled water covered the ground for weeks, even months, and when the waters finally receded, the villagers were living in New Marcovia, miles from the plantations and far from the eyes of those who hire laborers to work in their fields.

Without a source of income, the families rely on the Red Cross "food for work program." Through the summer and into the fall, under a glaring sun or a driving rain, the men in New Marcovia laid the cement blocks for their homes and dug holes for wells and pipes in return for food for their families. The men have worked quickly and completed homes are cropping up in neat rows, criss-crossed by dusty, dirt lanes.

By the end of the fall most of the families will be out of the shelters that occupy a dismal corner on the New Marcovia tract. That moment can't come soon enough for Lastenia Aguilar.

A single mother of six, Aguilar dreads each day spent in the cramped shelter. The room she shares with her children is tiny, crowded, and hot--the zinc roof acts like an oven, baking the room and the family under the intense Honduran sun. The room is cooler at night, but Aguilar has trouble sleeping. While infrequent, there have been occurences of crime in the shelters and she has four young girls to worry about. Most of the night she lies awake, watching the door.

Despite her current living conditions, Aguilar is thankful she survived the storm. During Hurricane Mitch she and her family had no time to evacuate before the river crested and floodwaters deluged Chaparro. She hoisted her children onto the roof of their tiny home and scrambled up after them as the waters continued to rise. For three horrific days they stood stranded on the roof as the adobe walls slowly disintegrated and finally collapsed, tossing the family into the churning waters.

Somehow Aguilar managed to get her family, including her 8-month-old daughter, up into a tree where they would spend another sleepless three days.

After an agonizing 72 hours, the waters finally receded and the family trekked through mud and debris to Marcovia where they and other hurricane survivors collapsed into donated tents they would live in for the next six months.

Now those survivors are in New Marcovia, working to build a community better able to withstand the hurricanes they know will strike Honduras in the future. Their homes are sturdier, their water systems are stronger, and they are more knowledgeable about the dangers of flooding and what it takes to survive.

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All American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. To help the victims of Hurricane Mitch, you may make a secure online credit card donation or call 1-800-HELP NOW (1-800-435-7669) or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Or you may send your donation to your local Red Cross or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013.

The American Red Cross is dedicated to helping make families and communities safer at home and around the world. The Red Cross is a volunteer-led humanitarian service organization that annually provides almost half the nation's blood supply, certifies more than 8.5 million people in vital life-saving skills, mobilizes relief to victims in more than 68,000 disasters nationwide, provides direct health services to 2.8 million people, assists international disaster and conflict victims in more than 30 countries, and transmits more than 14 million emergency messages to members of the Armed Forces and their families. If you would like information on Red Cross services and programs please contact your local Red Cross.

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