The hurricanes brought damaging winds, life-threatening storm surge and flash flooding to the region. Tropical Storm Eta and Hurricane Iota have landed Honduras and much of Central America a catastrophic double-blow. Heavily criticised for not ordering evacuations of at-risk areas before Eta, the government broadcast an order days in advance this time. Estimates show Hurricane Eta left $5 billion in damages. Many of those migrants who arrived in the US during the immediate aftermath of the hurricane were later granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which has allowed them to live and work in the country legally, but has been under attack by the Trump administration. About 2.9 million people in Honduras were affected by Eta, according to the country’s emergency response unit, including many like Benitez whose homes were flooded to the rooftops. Permissions Tropical Storm Iota was brewing in the Caribbean Sea early Saturday, threatening a second tropical strike for Nicaragua and Honduras, countries recently ransacked by a Category 4 Hurricane Eta. Shelters for people whose homes were flooded or damaged by hurricanes Eta and Iota in Honduras are now so crowded that thousands of victims have taken refuge under highway overpasses or bridges. Since then, it has faced accusations of not doing enough to protect the health and dignity of those affected and to guarantee their access to humanitarian assistance. He says he almost drowned when the water first began to rise. Over 3 million people have been affected by Eta. In a phone interview from Tegucigalpa, the nation’s capital, Erick Martínez Salgado, a defender of the rights of the LGBT community, affirms that the government response to the hurricanes and the pandemic has been weakened by a lack of planning and the historic corruption of state institutions. Tabora had already buried many COVID-19 victims and even had to close her business for a while because of the pandemic, but she immediately put her concerns to one side to shelter those who needed her help. How are we going to feed them?”. Eta is the strongest hurricane to ravage Honduras since Mitch in 1998, which killed over 7,000 people. “The water got higher and had more strength.”. Honduras is expected to make a similar request for those not covered. The destruction in Honduras, combined with the effects of climate change that have made subsistence agriculture difficult in recent years, plus a possible change in the immigration policy of President-elect Joe Biden’s new administration in the United States, could drive a new wave of migration. USA: New Amnesty International report details ongoing human rights violations at Guantánamo Bay detention facility, UK: Decision to refuse Assange bail renders his continued detention “arbitrary”, 94 dead affecting almost 4 million people, Belarus: Leaked audio allegedly exposing top Interior Minister official ordering use of illegal force against peaceful protesters must be effectively investigated, Amnesty International and Advocacy Assembly launch new online courses on open source human rights investigations, Cambodia: 150 opposition politicians and supporters face jail in mass trials. Eta is the strongest hurricane to ravage Honduras since Mitch in 1998, which killed over 7,000 people. San Pedro Sula, the nation’s second biggest city, was devastated. Since 1998, migration from Honduras has continued to grow. Residents wade through a flooded road Thursday in Planeta, Honduras, in the aftermath of Hurricane Eta. “We were surrounded by water, people started saying ‘help us, we want to come in’, so we opened the door downstairs so that people could get in,” says Tabora, the owner of a two-storey funeral home that she turned into an improvised shelter. At least three have died and more are missing after Iota slammed into Central America just miles away from where Eta hit less than two weeks earlier. San Pedro Sula and El Progreso are among the most severely affected communities. New York, December 16, 2020—Hurricanes Eta and Iota have left more than 250,000 people in Honduras with limited access to health care services, but the international response remains insufficient to respond to the urgent needs, said the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). The hurricanes brought damaging winds, life-threatening storm surge and flash flooding to the region. Hurricane Eta Devastates Central America as U.S. Withdraws From Climate Accord Indigenous communities in Honduras, Nicaragua, and Guatemala were among the hardest hit. “I had gone seven months without work and three days after I got called back this flooding happened,” the 50-year-old said. Refunds of donations. Hurricane Iota hit the Nicaraguan coast on November 16 as a Category 4 storm. That’s why we intend to continue raising awareness among the people who live in [larger ad wealthier] countries so that they make more serious and genuine efforts to mitigate the environmental destruction that the whole world is suffering. “We have family and children. In Guatemala, we are providing food and relief supplies. Impact Hurricane Iota is now growing strong and is set to hit Monday (11/16/2020) and travel the same path causing even more flooding in areas that are still 6 to 8 ft. underwater. Attachments. Article share tools. Together, our community raised $25,595 to provide everything from hotel rooms, clothes, cleaning … The valley surrounding San Pedro Sula – the country’s economic motor and home to about 2 million people – is the hardest hit area in the nation. Hurricane Iota made a catastrophic landfall on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua last week, just 13 days after Hurricane Eta’s landfall. Back then the international community rushed in with billions in aid. 4 min read. Overview. Estimates show Hurricane Eta left $5 billion in damages. In Honduras, Hurricane Eta left a trail of destruction. “I understand that there are people who came with small children, saving their babies, and they didn’t remember their masks because of the anguish,” she says. “They don't want to help in any way... they could easily give us umbrellas, at least with an umbrella we could get by, but the way things are right now, look, more rain is coming and there’s nothing we can do.”. The storm had sustained winds of 160 mph, as it was centered about 80 miles southeast of Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, and moved westward at 9 mph, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. Two days before the first hurricane arrived, the Honduran government was still promoting a tourism fair to revive the economy, instead of warning the population to take preventive measures. And now, Hurricane Iota is following Eta's path and making matters devastatingly worse. Hurricanes Iota and Eta deal Honduras a catastrophic double-blow. Privacy Policy Another hurricane, Iota, is expected to strike the country Monday evening. Sandro Mejía has been living in San Pedro Sula for 20 years, but now sees no other option than to seek a better life in the United States. However, Martínez questions why “citizens are replacing the government’s role in providing humanitarian aid.”. Guatemala, which was affected to a much lesser extent by the hurricanes, has already requested TPS for its citizens in the US. “Yesterday was my 58th birthday and I couldn’t even celebrate with a Coca-Cola,” Mejia says. The arrival of Hurricanes Eta and Iota in early November, which have so far affected approximately three million people in Honduras alone, marked the reversal of the phenomenon, due to La Niña, which sees surface temperatures in the east-central Pacific drift below average to generate volatile hurricane seasons. The impact of the hurricanes was so severe that it made many people forget, at least momentarily, about the pandemic that has changed the world. An estimated 100,000 people remained isolated across Honduras in the aftermath of Hurricane Eta as Iota made landfall. J ust 13 days after Hurricane Eta, a second devastating storm hit Honduras and other Central American countries this week. — Hundreds of thousands of displaced people now line the streets of San Pedro Sula, Honduras, after Hurricane Eta’s slow-moving rains triggered devastating flooding and landslides. President Juan Orlando Hernández has visited affected families to deliver humanitarian aid and has declared the construction of dams a national priority. I couldn’t get in when Donald Trump was in charge... he didn’t give anybody a chance to work there, but now things are going to change with Joe Biden.”. However, in areas where the water hadn’t risen as high, some decided to risk it and stay behind. MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) - Iota rapidly gained strength after becoming the 13th hurricane of the Atlantic season Sunday, threatening to bring dangerous winds and rains to Nicaragua and Honduras — countries recently clobbered by Category 4 Hurricane Eta. We’re all scared... it’s the worst thing we’ve ever been through.”. This storm, Hurricane Iota, has again flooded communities and fields, taken lives, and forced many Hondurans to relocate to shelters. There’s no work. “The weather conditions that we’ve experienced in recent weeks in our country are linked to the mismanagement of natural resources, which are seen as commodities to be excessively consumed for the benefit of certain economic groups,” Zúñiga says in a voice message. Alberto López Ocampo, a farmer from the Asentamientos Humanos neighbourhood, has been sleeping on a mattress there for 15 days, beside the 11 geese, 25 hens and 40 ducks he was able to save from the roof of his house. You can use this tool to change your cookie settings. It’s a disaster we’re living through, but we’re trying to get back on our feet.”. “All the shelters are conducting daily medical evaluations and testing every patient suspected of having COVID, both with rapid antigen tests and real-time PCR tests,” Nolasco says. This time around global attention – and depleted finances – are focused on the coronavirus pandemic, and there is an absence of US leadership to mobilise support. Encarni Pindado is an independent photojournalist. By November 17, 700 people had relocated from their homes. Honduras is lost.” She too would like to seek asylum in the United States, which she considers “a land of opportunities”. “We try to give them advice, we try to isolate them and we try to give them as much psychological counselling as we can, because obviously right now there has not only been material damage and human loss, but the population has also suffered a lot of psychological damage.”. Another 25 sheep of his drowned when the property flooded. Second devastating hurricane in two weeks lashes fragile nation and leaves villages submerged, Last modified on Thu 19 Nov 2020 12.43 GMT. According to official tolls fewer than 100 people have died as a result of the hurricanes, but the water from Eta was yet to fully recede in many areas when Iota hit, and hundreds are still reported as missing. Iota, a Category 4 hurricane, followed a similar path as Hurricane Eta moving west, bringing devastation. Volunteers join the rescue efforts in the Planeta colony in La Lima, Honduras. The second, much larger storm has destroyed many areas largely spared by Eta and increased the flood damage in already stricken areas. Duncan Tucker is Amnesty International’s media manager for the Americas. Iota killed at least 16 people in Nicaragua and a dozen or more in Honduras, according to the Associated Press, just weeks after 130 people died during Eta in Central America. The best way is to migrate.”, Hurricane Iota wreaks havoc across Central America – in pictures, Hurricane Iota has left the Planeta municipality in La Lima, Honduras, submerged in water. 07 (al 13 de enero 2021) Format Situation Report Sources. This storm, Hurricane Iota, has again flooded communities and fields, taken lives, and forced many Hondurans to relocate to shelters. PEACEBUILDING EN LAS AMÉRICAS — This holiday, Peacebuilding en las Américas’ (PLA) representatives and partners in Honduras and Guatemala are … Hurricane Iota battered Nicaragua's Caribbean coast and flooded some stretches of neighbouring Honduras that were still underwater from Hurricane Eta … USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance is providing life-saving assistance to people affected by severe flooding, landslides, and damage caused by Tropical Storm Eta. A total of 25 foreign military assets have been deployed to support the government of Honduras in response to hurricanes Iota and Eta. Honduras. Hurricane victims take refuge under a bridge in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020. My house is still flooded, it flooded again when Iota struck. The last time Honduras suffered a natural disaster of this scale was in 1998, when Hurricane Mitch – the worst natural disaster in Central American history and one of the deadliest Atlantic storms ever – devastated much of the country’s infrastructure. It’s going to need repairing because it’s sinking, it’s full of mud and it has dead animals inside.”, The families sheltered beneath the bridge bathe in the rainwater that falls on the highway and relieve themselves in the sewers. The national authorities say they saved 34 people stranded on rooftops using military and civilian helicopters, as well as carrying out two aquatic rescues. Citing the scientists who have linked climate change to the extreme force of the hurricanes that have hurt Central America so badly in recent months, Zúñiga affirms that “we must hold accountable the large countries and economic powers who have produced these results, as well as the process of so-called ‘modernization’, so that the people who have contributed most to the defence of the earth stop suffering the effects of the pollution caused by those who shirk their responsibility.”, Zúñiga concludes by warning that “as long as the pollution continues, as long as the depredation continues, as long as the rights of those who continue defending the earth are not recognized, our prospects will remain bleak. “When we saw the distress people were in we didn’t even think about these things... [I thought] come on, maybe they could be saved here, even if there’s not much room.”, Many of those affected have suffered post-traumatic stress due to everything they’ve been through since Eta, the first hurricane, approached. It’s a prompt to take action against this and listen to what indigenous peoples and the organizations fighting for climate justice have been saying.”. I have nothing, I lost everything. The unprecedented double blow comes on top of the Covid-19 pandemic, which had already depleted government resources and left many people unemployed in one of the poorest countries in Latin America. Honduras + 1 more. Iota flooded stretches of Honduras still underwater from Hurricane Eta, after it hit Nicaragua Monday evening as a Category 4 hurricane and weakened as it … Iota became the thirteenth hurricane of the Atlantic season early Sunday, threatening to bring another dangerous system to Nicaragua and Honduras -- … Hurricanes Eta and Iota hit Honduras back-to-back in November. Along with Benitez and many other residents of San Pedro Sula’s La Lima suburb, she had gathered along the highway that cuts through the city, with nowhere else to go. ‘The worst thing we’ve ever been through’. “My daughters have fallen ill. They’ve had a cough and the flu. Dinorah Nolasco, director of health in the Cortés region where San Pedro Sula is located, says the area has suffered constant crises in the last two years: “First we had a dengue emergency, then a COVID emergency and now we have this tragedy. We continue to assess damage from Eta and Iota around San Pedro Sula in order to determine where to provide additional relief. Much of the valley, just like La Lima, is under water. El Salvador. Thieves had ransacked many abandoned homes in the city since Eta, making Sanchez, who sold fruit outside her home, afraid of losing what little she had. It is unlikely Honduras will receive anywhere close to what it needs to rebuild. The pandemic had already plunged the economy deep into recession. HONDURAS SOLIDARITY NETWORK (HSN) HURRICANE ETA EMERGENCY RESPONSE FUND “You feel a nervousness, a tension among us,” Tabora reflects. Subsequent damage from Iota is expected to further inflate those numbers. In addition to these figures, some 20 schools, 51 buildings, 84 bridges and 218 roads were damaged in the country. Quincy, WA 36° F People waiting for help on a flooded main road. Marlon Matute, of representative of the San Pedro Sula mayor’s office, affirms that the local government has opened 100 municipal shelter across the city and is providing financial support, food and hygiene products to those affected. Many people are living on the second floor of their homes because they have no where to go. In three days, Eta downgraded to a tropical storm and then to a tropical depression, drenching much of Honduras and causing rising river levels, flooding, and landslides across the country. . Most residents in already flooded areas needed little persuasion to evacuate before Iota hit. “I came racing out with my four children when the water started to rise at eight in the evening,” says López, who had to later to separate from his family to look after their livestock. Many had waited for days to be rescued. “There’s no food, nowhere to bathe, no electricity,” Donaire says. “How are we going to get it back? 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