Hurricane Survivors
in Nicaragua Need Food,
Water, Medicine
PUERTO CABEZAS,
Nicaragua: Thousands of
people on Nicaragua's
remote Caribbean coast
urgently need food,
water, medical supplies
and tools to rebuild
their communities
following Hurricane
Felix, residents and a
U.N. official said.
Felix devastated remote
jungle beaches and
communities along the
Miskito coastline when
it struck Tuesday as a
Category 5 hurricane,
destroying crops,
erasing homes and
killing scores of
people.
The U.N. representative
in Nicaragua, Alfredo
Missair, said Friday
that more than 100,000
Nicaraguans were
directly affected by the
storm and the country
will need US$43.5
million in aid over the
next six months.
The immediate needs
facing survivors are
water, food and medical
supplies, Missair said.
Residents of the Miskito
Indian community of
Krukira need things
ranging from "matches,
water, hammers and
plastic sheeting to
chain saws to rebuild
our community and our
church, because it was
all destroyed by the
winds," said 64-year-old
community member Ofelia
Hodgson.
Villager Salomon Chow,
49, lifted his shirt and
rubbed his stomach with
his hand.
"Look, for three days I
have only eaten fallen
coconuts," he said.
The Rev. Bernardo Romero
said Krukira's 270
families are destitute
and need food and water
because "the latrines
have overflowed and the
wells are polluted by
dead animals.
Food, medical help,
mattresses and other aid
is arriving in Nicaragua
from the U.S., Venezuela
and Cuban governments,
as well as nonprofits
throughout the Americas,
but getting it to remote
villages accessible only
by helicopter or canoe
is a problem.
The storm ruined the
bumpy red-dirt tracks
that connected the
region's larger
communities,
complicating relief
efforts. The only
highway from the capital
of Managua to Puerto
Cabezas is unusable
because Felix's rains
damaged the bridge over
the Wawa river.
These communities are
used to fending for
themselves, but Felix
wiped out their crops
and wrecked their boats.
The U.S. Southern
Command sent the USS
Wasp to Nicaragua to
help coordinate U.S.
relief efforts.
Venezuela also sent aid
and 57 Cuban doctors and
nurses already
established on the
Miskito coast on medical
missions were helping as
well.
But there are only six
Nicaraguan army
helicopters and two U.S.
Chinook helicopters
currently being used to
reached remote locations
ravaged by Felix.
"There are areas that
nobody has been able to
reach, not even in
canoes. We have a
limited number of
helicopters, but we are
working intensely," said
Maj. Sergio Caceres,
chief of Nicaragua's
Special Operations Unit.
The death toll from
Felix has ranged from 49
to more than 100, but no
one has been able to
tally the missing.
At this point, it is
likely no one will ever
know how many lives were
lost in the Category-5
storm.
The eye of the hurricane
passed directly over the
Honduran-Nicaraguan
coast, devastating
seaside villages and
island fishing hubs that
were home to the
Miskitos Indians,
descendants of Indians,
European settlers and
African slaves. |
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