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Bringing Relief Supplies to Nicaragua after Hurricane Felix
(English * Español)
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Participants also toured Valparaiso to observe the
coastal city’s risk-management challenges. |
October 2007
As Hurricane Felix unleashed its fury across Nicaragua’s northern Atlantic coast in the early morning of September 4, 2007, the United States began to mobilize its emergency response network to assist the Nicaraguan government and aid
organizations in providing humanitarian relief to tens of thousands of affected residents in the isolated region.
The category 5 hurricane swept through Nicaragua’s North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN), washing away entire island communities, flattening inland villages and destroying millions of hectares of forest and croplands in an area already struggling with intense poverty.
The storm, one of the worst to ever hit the region, affected more than 188,000 people (most of whom depended on subsistence agriculture and fishing), left at least 102 confirmed dead, dozens of others missing and thousands homeless, hungry and without potable water. Strong winds destroyed 37,000 hectares of corn, rice and other crops, including nearly 6,000 fruit trees. Flooding damaged an estimated 13,438 latrines, which in turn contaminated 11,519 wells, Nicaragua’s National Civil Defense reported.
The hurricane left more than 10,000 houses destroyed and another 9,000 without roofs. In addition, 179 schools, health centers and other public buildings were damaged, along with 69 businesses including stores and restaurants.
The United States was one of the first countries to provide assistance in the region by offering $1 million worth of aid in the form of shelter and other relief supplies airlifted to communities in need. Total U.S. aid during the following weeks ascended $3 million. Various other countries from throughout the Americas and Europe also answered Nicaragua’s plea for help in the wake of Hurricane Felix.
Ten specialists from the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) joined the Mission Disaster Relief Officer (MDRO) in the Nicaraguan capital, most arriving there the same day the hurricane struck. The following day, the U.S. government gave $300,000 to the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) for emergency medical services and sanitation work.
“That was extremely beneficial for the region because the hurricane rendered thousands of wells contaminated. Many communities relied on these wells as their sole source of water,” said USAID/OFDA Regional Advisor and Team Leader Rene Carrillo. PAHO is using the funds to help restore water quality, control diseases, support health brigades and purchase medical supplies.
A USAID/OFDA team of five headed to Puerto Cabezas, the north Atlantic coast’s main municipality (also known by its Miskito name Bilwi). Team members arrived there on September 6 and began working with Nicaragua’s National System of Disaster Prevention (SINAPRED), the Nicaraguan Red Cross, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) to provide aid to affected residents.
U.S Government relief workers, coordinating with U.S. military officials and humanitarian organizations, provided food, plastic sheeting for temporary roofs and shelters, blankets and hygiene kits to thousands of residents during the next three days – quite a challenge in an area presenting language barriers, difficult access, significant infrastructure damage and roadways blocked by debris from buildings and uprooted trees.
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A team of USAID/OFDA disaster experts and relief workers at the airstrip in Puerto Cabezas plan the day's work. |
The first batch of relief supplies arrived at Puerto Cabezas the night of September 6 from USAID/OFDA’s warehouse in Miami, Florida, via commercial cargo flight. The supplies were unloaded onto the tarmac at the Puerto Cabezas airstrip and then delivered to needy communities by U.S. military helicopters.
USAID/OFDA was able to provide timely and opportune distribution of shelter items thanks to logistical support from the U.S. Department of Defense.
The United States deployed to the north Atlantic coast two aircraft carriers, first the USS Wasp and later the USS Samuel B. Roberts (both were already in the region to participate in a multinational exercise off the coast of Panama). The ships’ helicopters brought food, plastic sheeting, blankets, water containers, hygiene kits and other useful items to residents of devastated communities around Lake Pahara, north of Puerto Cabezas.
Other helicopters traveled from a U.S. military base in neighboring Honduras to establish an air bridge between Managua and Puerto Cabezas.
“We were the first to arrive with supplies to most of the communities in the region,” said USAID/OFDA Communications Officer Ricardo Herrera. USAID/OFDA concentrated on providing reinforced plastic, blankets and water containers to affected residents, who received food thanks to donations from USAID’s Office of Food for Peace to the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) operating in the region.
Residents truly appreciated those first supplies, Herrera recalled, particularly the temporary roofing and shelters afforded by USAID/OFDA’s reinforced plastic.
“The people were really grateful. They thanked us over and over,” he said. “Everything they had saved from the storm was getting wet – it rains a lot on Nicaragua’s Atlantic coast. Now, they were protected, sheltered.”
Before bringing supplies to the affected communities, teams consisting of a USAID/OFDA staff member and several NGO volunteers would travel to the area leaders typically the local judge (considered the maximum authority). The leader would inform the aid team how many people lived in the village, what its specific needs were and whether there were injured or sick residents who required medical evacuation.
The helicopter that dropped off the team would return later in the day with relief supplies.
“In communities where we were able to do this, the distribution worked much better than in those communities where aid workers weren’t able to coordinate with local residents in advance. In the latter, confusion was prevalent. It became a matter of the strongest getting the most,” Team Leader Carrillo said.
After the initial three days of work, USAID/OFDA decided its team should stay on to continue providing logistical support and transportation services to the Nicaraguan government, which had plenty of donations from other countries, but needed help distributing them.
USAID/OFDA coordinated transportation services with the U.S. Department of Defense, and from September 12-17
delivered additional supplies and medical personnel throughout the region.
U.S. military aircraft helped move supplies from Managua to Puerto Cabezas, and from there, they were transported to outlying communities by helicopter and in later days by boat and truck as rivers and roads were cleared of tree trunks and other debris.
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Volunteers unload USAID/OFDA supplies. |
“The most important aspects of U.S. response in the wake of Hurricane Felix are: one, that we provided direct assistance, and two, that U.S. government assistance with distribution lasted a relatively long time – about two weeks,” Team Leader Carrillo said.
The emergency response work wrapped up September 18, when the government of Nicaragua declared the rehabilitation period had begun.
By then, the USAID/OFDA team had delivered nearly 165 metric tons of U.S.
relief supplies and third-party donations to 37 communities and transported 74
people to receive medical attention in Puerto Cabezas, via 115 airlift operations by the U.S. Department of Defense.
USAID/OFDA donated 940 rolls of plastic sheeting (each was divided into four segments, providing temporary shelter for 3,760 families), as well as 3,875 blankets, 3,552 hygiene kits, 13,000 ten-liter water containers and 100 body bags from its Miami warehouse.
On September 28, USAID/OFDA announced it would provide an additional $300,000 to ADRA for post-hurricane
recovery.
The next week, Ky Luu, Director of USAID/OFDA, toured the affected areas with Tim Callaghan, USAID/OFDA Senior Regional Advisor, for a first-hand look at the results of the U.S. response.
In all, the United States provided more than $3 million in aid to Nicaragua after Hurricane Felix – more than $1.5 million through USAID/OFDA and $1.5 million through the Department of Defense.
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