Global perspective Human stories

UN children’s agency deeply concerned over flooding in Central America

UN children’s agency deeply concerned over flooding in Central America

media:entermedia_image:1bfafe4f-c679-4e3d-b876-1a37861748c5
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today warned that life-saving supplies are quickly running out in Honduras, where severe landslides and flooding caused by heavy rains have killed at least 14 people and affected some 130,000 others in recent days.

The flooding is so widespread that the Honduran Government has declared a national state of emergency, and an estimated 75,000 others in six other countries in the region – Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Belize and Mexico – have also been affected.

About 12,000 people have had to be evacuated from their homes and moved to shelters across Central America and UNICEF reports that around one-third of the displaced population are children.

UNICEF has also expressed deep concern as many of the thousands of blankets, medical and hygiene kits, oral rehydration salts and other supplies it had pre-positioned prior to this year’s hurricane season have been used in the initial response to the emergency.

“The aftermath of a natural disaster like this one can be deadly for children, who are highly vulnerable to waterborne diseases,” warned UNICEF Regional Director for Latin American and the Caribbean Nils Kastberg.

“Children’s immune systems can also be weakened by poor nutrition. If we add in a situation such as this, massive damage to crops that exacerbates already high food prices, we’ve go a time-bomb in the making,” added Mr. Kastberg.

Honduras, where 25,000 people have already received emergency food aid, has requested urgent assistance from UNICEF to ensure recovery for children and families, focusing on the areas of water and sanitation, health and nutrition, and education, according to a press release issued by the agency today.

A UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team, a standby group of disaster management professionals who are nominated and funded by member governments, is being mobilized to travel to Honduras. UNDAC teams are tasked with carrying out rapid assessment of priority needs and supporting national authorities in coordinating international relief on-site.

At least 8,000 people in Nicaragua remain in shelters as a result of flooding in that country, although the Government has not requested UN assistance. In Belize, an estimated 36,000 people were affected but mass evacuations were not required, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported.

More rain is expected and officials fear the situation could get worse as the annual Atlantic hurricane season is not yet over in Central America, where a series of tropical storms have moved slowly and steadily across the region, dumping heavy rains.

The flooding is the latest in a series of natural disasters that have devastated parts of Latin American and the Caribbean during this year’s hurricane season. Earlier in the season 2.5 million Cubans were evacuated from their homes as the island was pummelled by consecutive hurricanes, and tens of thousands of Haitians are still living in temporary shelters more than a month after four successive storms battered the already impoverished nation.