Attachments
A. SITUATION ANALYSIS
Description of the disaster
Tropical cyclones are among the natural events that cause the most damage to the population. Their impact on communities depends on the level of risk to which they are exposed and the level of vulnerability.
Historically, Nicaragua has been impacted by tropical cyclones, the most recent being tropical storm Bonnie in May 2022 and category 1 hurricane Julia in October 2022.
During the first week of October 2022, the National Hurricane Center (NOAA) reported the identification of a tropical disturbance in the Atlantic area that potentially threatened to evolve and affect Central America. Subsequently, on 6 October, NOAA reported that the tropical disturbance had become a tropical storm and that the potential impact zone was estimated to be between the communities of Prinzapolka and the Karawala nature reserve in the form of a category 1 hurricane.
Up to that moment, the impact zone of the potential hurricane was quite wide, which implied the need to extend the coverage of preparedness actions for the hurricane's entry. On 8 October, tropical storm Julia became a category 1 hurricane1 at 5:30 pm and at midnight of the same day it impacted the national territory of Nicaragua.
On 8 October, according to INETER's report on the rapid strengthening of Tropical Storm Julia and in anticipation of its impact as a category 1 hurricane, the Nicaraguan government declared a state of Yellow Alert2 throughout the national territory.
On 9 October, Hurricane Julia degraded its intensity and became a tropical storm again. However, the intensity of the rains caused by the hurricane at the national level caused numerous damages and the Nicaraguan government decreed a Red Alert3 . Julia caused heavy rainfall, which in turn caused several rivers to overflow, including the Artiwas, Wasminona and Okonwas rivers in the municipality of Rosita, the Malacatoya and Fonseca rivers, Siquia, Mico and Rama, among others, putting the population at risk and damaging social infrastructure such as housing, roads and telecommunications in the South Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS), Central Zelaya and Boaco, interruption of electricity and drinking water services, obstruction of roads due to falling trees, among others.
According to preliminary data released by SINPARED4 , Julia left major damage. Around 20,000 people were evacuated from the areas of greatest impact and risk, some 15,000 houses were affected to varying degrees, of which almost 700 were totally destroyed and more than 8,000 were affected, mainly with damage to their roofs. There were also reports of 98 health units affected in their infrastructure, including a regional hospital.
The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure reported that they participated in the removal and clearing of 516 sites due to falling trees on the country's main roads. They attended to 82 landslides and quickly carried out clearance work to allow the free movement of citizens on this part of the affected road network. They had 17 stretches of road affected by the effect of the dragging of strong currents, infiltration and undermining of pavement structure by runoff.
The devastating forces of Julia damaged several schools in Rivas, Diriamba, Managua and San Rafael del Norte.
The areas of Chontales, Boaco, Jinotega, Rivas, Matagalpa and León were among the worst affected regions.
One of the areas most affected was the municipality of El Rama in the South Caribbean, where three rivers converge: Siquia, Mico and Rama, adding to the more than 70 rivers that overflowed nationwide as a result of the rains, leaving villages under water and entire families lost all their belongings.