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A Report on the State of Disaster in Nicaragua
On the 19th of October, Nicaragua was declared to be under a state of national disaster by the President of the Republic. This was due to the innumerable natural disaters caused first by hurricane Felix in the North Atlantic region of Nicaragua, and by rain lasting more than 30 days which afftected the western part of the country in the regions of Leon, Chinandega, and in the north in Matagalpa.
In the Atlantic region of Nicaragua
Civil Defense has presented the official statistics of 109 deaths, 133 missing and 216,000 victims, 22 thousand houses were damaged, and 1,864 miles of highways were destroyed.
In Matagalpa
In Matagalpa, 622 families were found affected, 194 are living in boats, and 428 are in homes of other family members, 20 houses were totally destroyed, 250 were damaged and 567 were flooded.
They have recorded 3,751 people affected, 1,171 have been forced to evacuate and there have been 6 deaths. Among the communities that we take care of there were two casualties, a girl from Las Rosas and a teenager from La Corona.
As a consequence of the continuous rains, the crops of corn, beans, sorghum sesame, among others were seriously affected. The bean crops were totally lost. The farmers will have to wait to replant until the planting season that they call the "apante" which comes in November and December. The harvest of beans will not be until January and February of next year. Since this is the dry season, the harvest will not be as large as what the farmers would have had from their current crop.
In Sandino:
The harvests of beans and corn have been lost in the communities of Jaguas, Berlín, Tigre, Reventón, Yucas and Latas.
The roads are deteriorated in Las Jaguas, Latas, Yucas, Chorrera, Lajero, Berlín and Tigre.
In EL Crucero
The inhabitants of the communities of El Crucero are worried that the bean crop has been totally lost.
Another problem is the inaccessability of the roads in the communities of Daniel Teller, Santa Julia, Nueva York, Las Pilas, Los Hidalgos, Chichihualtepe, Los Fierros and El Trapiche. In these communities there have been mudslides and heavy pooling of water.
There has been a report of the death of an 18 year old, José Felix Ramírez Paíz, died Tuesday the 16th of October of pneumonia when he could not go to the hospital because of the rains making the roads impossible to travel.
The doctors are reporting respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses as a consequence of the rains.
900 families have lost their crops in Alcaldía. The production of 45,000 quintals of gold coffee is at risk, and this directly effects the jobs in El Crucero.
It is estimated that in this small community alone they have lost 220 acres of beans, 140 of corn, 60 of wheat sorghum, and 10 acres of vegetables which is the majority of their agricultural land. The production of bread has been cut 50% -bread is part of the daily diet.
The mayor of El Crucero has asked for help to clean up the situation. Help has been requested from Magfor, MTI, Sinapred, and the Civil Defense.
In the City of Dario
Several communities are totally out of communication
because no one can get in or out. Those communities
include: Ojo de Agua, Buena Vista,
Camino Valle san Juan is lost, as are Los Pedernales and El Roble.
Severe damage has been done to the bean and corn crops in the fields of Chiltoma in las Pilas.
There are houses with water inside them, some are partially destroyed by mud.
In the communities, they are serving the hungry with the food from the feeding centers, but this food is only available for the children, elderly and pregnant and nursing women..
The biggest problem in Dario is the access to the communities. Up to now there are no reports of deaths.
In La Dalia
Roads are in bad shape. Various communities are out of communication but this week things have been ok because it has not rained. Almost 80% of the bean crop has been lost.
In San Ramón
Strong rains. They have reported 2 deaths, one of whom was an 11 year old girl from Las Rosas who was swept away by the river. Her name was Karla Vanesa Centeno. She attended the education collective and the nutrition center. Her body has not yet been recovered. The other death was a girl of 17 named Carmen. Her last name is not known.
Damage to the fields of chayote squash. Also affected were the fields of corn, beans, and coffee. The coffee, which is mainly from trees, has fallen to the ground amongst the plants.
The roads are bad. There have been many lost along with the animals of the Heifer project. For example, the pigs that were described in the report which Napoleon sent from Heifer.
There is a growing number of people who are hungry. There are almost no vegetables. Beans are not being eaten because of the elevated price
Below, we detail the preliminary information on Matagalpa from Napoleon.
The damages were caused by the undertow of the Grande de Matagalpa river. The popluation afftected was more than during hurricane Mitch. Many families were left homeless when their homes were flooded or destroyed.
In the municipalities of San Ramón two deaths have been reported, and many families have lost almost everything including their houses, furniture, animals and crops.
Those who have not suffered directly from these natural phenomenons, are suffering from hunger and the epidemics which are common under these circumstances.
The municipal and national authorities are working together with the ONG. They are working in these zones and are trying to work with the whole population that is affected to try and resolve the more immediate problems of this tragedy.
The Rainbow Network Inc, one of the principal managers of community development in these municipalities is collaborating with the mayors of San Ramon and Tuma La Dalia to maintain security in all aspects of the affected population.
ANOTHER BIG PROBLEM 1- The prices for beans is running at about ONE DOLLAR A POUND (19 córdobas) Never in the history of Nicaragua has there been such an extreme rise in the price of beans as there is now. Just a month ago the price of a pound of beans was only 7 córdobas ( or.35 cents), also the price of transportation rose which increase the price of bread 50%. Bread and beans are eaten daily by Nicaraguans. 2- Our costs of operation in the feeding center projects have risen more than all others because the total price of food has risen by almost 50% at the general level. The gas prices have risen in the last few months almost 40% . Also, because the roads have been destroyed, we are spending a lot more money on repair and maintenance of vehicles. |