Once again, Central America is battered by natural disaster. As our partner the Share Foundation describes it:
“While the National Hurricane Center in the United States has downgraded Hurricane Ida to a Tropical Storm, El Salvador has experienced the full brunt of hurricane force winds and rain. Over the weekend, the storm destroyed more than 7,000 homes and damaged many more. The most recent data… indicates that approximately 130 people have been killed by the storm, and thousands more injured. This total is sure to rise as emergency relief workers continue to work their way through damaged buildings and areas that have experienced landslides.
“The community of Verapaz in the department of San Vicente was left badly damaged by mud, rocks and debris after a mudslide from the San Vicente Volcano. Because the heavy rains rapidly made the land on the foothills of the volcano quite unstable, water quickly engulfed much of the town and many people did not have time to prepare or escape.
“As is often the case in these sorts of situations, the most immediate problems include access to emergency shelter, access to potable water, and food. SHARE Foundation, in collaboration with its partners in the three zones of San Salvador, La Paz and San Vicente, will be working to provide emergency relief. This will include distribution of plastic sheeting and wood for temporary housing; food and water.”
Some of LAWG’s partner organizations have emergency relief programs. Please visit their websites to donate.
Share Foundation: http://www.share-elsalvador.org/headlines/idarelief.html
Lutheran World Relief: http://www.lwr.org/news/news.asp?LWRnewsDate=11/9/2009#
