CARE Scales up Emergency Relief in Guatemala and El Salvador CARE is scaling up our emergency assistance efforts in Guatemala and El Salvador, providing clean drinking water, food, latrines and hygiene kits to tens of thousands of people displaced by the aftermath of Hurricane Stan and a volcanic eruption. Both countries have declared states of national emergency. The Guatemalan government says Hurricane Stan has affected more people than Hurricane Mitch, which took the lives of 268 people in 1998. CARE is now helping 25,000 people in Guatemala, and another 15,000 in El Salvador. CARE's immediate efforts focus on people in temporary shelters dislocated by flooding, landslides and, in El Salvador, the threat of another volcanic eruption. These shelters are overcrowded and have poor sanitation. CARE is providing latrines to people in temporary housing to cut down the risk of an outbreak of infectious disease. "People in the temporary shelters had very little to begin with and now they have lost everything but their lives," says Luis Paiz, CARE's program director for Guatemala. "Our job is not only to help them continue to survive, but in the long run, to help them improve their ability to provide for themselves." In Guatemala, flooding has affected 80 percent of the south coast alone. Many small communities in the western plateau remain cut off due to landslides, breakdowns in communications and power outages, as well as continuing bad weather. Preliminary estimates put the damage to agricultural crops at approximately $400 million. In El Salvador the full extent of the damage from the hurricane and the volcanic eruption will not be known until the rains stop and assessments can be conducted. Even so, it's clear that the level of destruction is significant. There is also the risk that the Santa Ana volcano will erupt again, causing more people to be displaced and more destruction of homes, livelihoods and resources. Both countries will need significant, long-term assistance to recover from these disasters. "In order for communities to rebuild their lives it is essential to restore not just physical infrastructure like schools, houses and water and sanitation facilities, but also social infrastructure," says Ligia Alvarenga, CARE's program director for El Salvador. "For example, support for education programs, land use planning, and disaster preparedness and mitigation are key social resources that are also part of CARE's long-term strategy for reconstruction." It will take up to two years for communities in Guatemala and El Salvador to recover, CARE estimates. "The emergency will not end when hurricane season is over," warns Colen Beckwith, CARE's director for Central America. "Once people's immediate needs are met, CARE's efforts shift from emergency response to recovery and rehabilitation and, finally, reconstruction. It's critical to make sure that there is a sustained, long-term effort to help people piece their lives and livelihoods back together."
Media Contacts:
Atlanta: Alina Labrada, CARE USA, labrada@care.org, (404) 979-9383, (404) 457-4644
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