Thursday - November 5, 1998.
S/V Fantome Update
Update on La Ceiba from Mary Ann Nuñez:
Things are looking better in La Ceiba. The supermarkets are open and restocked. The clean up effort is in full swing. They expect a temporary bridge over the Cangrejal will be finished today. This will enable relief to outer areas. Please do not misunderstand me. The need is great and there is a lot to do. It looks like most supplies and relief donations are coming through Tegucigalpa.
Update on La Comayagua and Siguatepeque from Travis Harrington:
The regions of Comayagua and Siguatepeque seem to have suffered some damage but information is sketchy as the people I talked to, Yadira Abendano, who seemed quite shell-shocked and frightened, and Weather oberver, Mike Oates, was at that time briefing a mission that was going to the north to render aid. From what I was told, food and water is there in Comayagua but not in large supply. Anyone with relatives that work for DynCorp at Palmerola, most of the workers have been moved onto the base. The caraterra norte between Comayagua and Siguatepequue is open and the bus is running once in the morning.
Phone lines between Comayagua and Tegucigalpa are operating to some extent and relative are frantically calling loved ones in those cities. International lines to Comayagua and Siguatepeque remain jammed, however, to best of my knowledge. The people in these two cities are most accessable by the forces of Joint Task Force-Bravo and their Honduran Air Force counterparts, so worry should be kept to a minimum about this area. However, this is in no way a definitive idea of conditions as troops remain on lock down at base, and first hand reports are still sketchy. I hope to have a more detailed report of this region in the next two days. Have faith and pray for all our loved ones and friends there in Honduras. Their hour of need will be long, and our hearts must be committed. God bless all of you that are helping.
Update on North Coast from Corazon a Corazon:
Our team has arrived in La Ceiba and we are to be posted to the East in a Garifuna village. The current needs are food, food, and food then medication, particularly anti diarrheal medications such as pepto bismol, lomodil, doxycycline, furoxine, loperamide, lariem, Chloroquin, IV fluids tylenol, asprin. Vaccines for cholera, typhoid, and anti malaria drugs
are desperately needed...the entire Northern coast area affected by the hurricane. The damage is massive. You have to be here to understand the scale. We may be unable to post furhter messages due to our team's future location. We encourage any one with compassion that are prepared to put their love onto action to begin immediate collection efforts...Further information may be found at www.caribe.hn/hre/hre.htm. The need is NOW!!! Don't Wait.
Words from Honduras:
"We are doing very well because we live in a high zone of the capital, but emotionally bad, since our city is totally destroyed. We do not have water, and the food this very little since the majority of all the bridges of this city have been destroyed. Many people are on the roofs of their homes, without food which has been sent to other cities in Central America. They know better how to sell the destruction of their town to receive aid. I have personally been working in activities of rescue and aid to the affected ones, and there exists a tremendous hunger, the number of dead that are mentioned at an international level are very conservative. I have been present at the rescue of thousands of cadavers in the capital alone. Whole families died because of mudslides, and I believe that in Tegucigalpa alone, there is 15,000 dead ones."
Update on La Ceiba from HONDURAS.COM STAFF:
For those wishing to find out information about loved ones in La Ceiba, here are the local hospital numbers, provided by copeco@honduras.com
HOSPITALS IN LA CEIBA:
Remember to dial 504 (Honduras area code) before any of the following
numbers:
Hospital Centro Medico Tel. - 443-2706 Fax 443-2318
Hospital La Fe Tel.- 443-3020 or 443-1479 or 443-3021
Hospital Policlinica Ceibeña - Tel. 443-2388 or 443-3449
Hospital Vicente D'Antoni (The biggest in La Ceiba) -
Tel. 443-2264,
Tel. 443-0593, 443-0029, 443-2234, 443-2244, 443-2680, 443-2224,
Fax 443-2214
Update on Trujillo from Kim Brinkley and David Burkett of the Villa Brinkley Hotel in Trujillo:
There is no power, most of the phones are out, and food is getting harder
and harder to find. Most of the electric poles from Trujillo to Bonito
Oriental are down, and electricity is, they fear, months away. The bridges over the Rio Aguan are destroyed, and communication with Toccoa is difficult. You can still drive the dirt road through Sonaguera on the north side of the Rio Aguan in order to access Trujillo from La Ceiba, but at La Ceiba the bridge is out and you must cross the river in a basket hauled across by rope.
In the center of Trujillo, the cathedral lost its roof, and so did the
governor's office and there was damage to the city hall and the Banco
Atlantida. The bridges in the town over the Rio Negro and Rio Cristales
are still ok.
Currently, some aid flights with food are getting into the strip in Trujillo, but daily only 1500 meal packets are arriving, and there are 30,000 people in the Trujillo area and another 40,000 people in the Aguan valley that must be fed from that. They desperately need more food immediately. After food they need building supplies. Especially 2 x 4's and corrugated tin roofing and related materials.
Also, there is no gasoline in Trujillo. People are having to walk, and
vehicles are becoming useless. If gasoline does not arrive, then repairs
cannot be made.
Further observations:
The women at Tres Conchas (Berke and Susan) are ok. Their houses are ok as well as Miriam Crespo's, even though the last two are very close to the beach. The house of Canadian, Bob Harris is fine, and so is the house of Ken and Julie.
Update on Occidente from Ray and Beronica Sabella:
Telephones are open in Nueva Ocotepeque, and we have had the fortunate opportunity to interview a good friend there concerning the situation in that part of the Occidente. I take his word to be extremely reliable.
Nueva Ocotepeque and the surrounding towns in the valley of the Rio Lempa suffered only slight street flooding, and there has been no reports of injury or serious damage. The Rio Lempa rose only slightly over its banks, causing only minor agriculture losses. All phones lines and electricity are functioning normally. Antigua Ocotepeque suffered minor flooding during Mitch's passing, and although the Rio Marchala did overflow its banks, there was no repeat of the major flooding that occurred in 1936 when the city was destroyed, and 2000 residents perished. This time around, all residents were evacuated during the rains, and no injuries or major damage has been reported.
No reports yet on the surrounding aldeas and caserios in the western
portion of the Department of Ocotepeque, but there has been no indication
of deaths or serious damage. The one exception is the town of La Encarnacion and some of the surrounding aldeas, which have experienced some serious flooding, As of yet, no dead or serious injury has been reported, although approximately 100 families are known to have lost their homes.
It must be stated that this region is very mountainous and extremely
rugged, many live in remote areas, and little information has yet to be known from most of the aldeas or caserios. The governor and other local leaders are currently working very hard to discover the status of affected areas. They are requesting assistance for the affected families in La Encarnacion and others made homeless in the area.
The Carretera Occidente from Agua Caliente (the Guatemalan border) and El Poy (the Salvadoran border) through Nueva Occidente, El Portillo, and through the rest of the Department of Ocotepeque suffered some mudslides, but all have now been cleared, and the highway is open at least through to Cucuyagua, possibly all the way to Santa Rosa de Copan. IF THIS IS THE CASE, IT IS VERY GOOD NEWS, BECAUSE LAND TRANSPORT IS NOW POSSIBLE FOR FOOD AND MEDICINE FROM GUATEMELA AND EL SALVADOR INTO THE INTERIOR OF THE OCCIDENTE.
We continue to pray for all who are suffering, and hope that the sun will shine soon for those who are working so hard to assist those in this time of need.
(postcript: Our familes are OK in Sinuapa, Ocotepeque)
Emergency E-Mail Contacts in Honduras:
Tegucigalpa:
ccastellano@alcaldia_teg.hn2.com
ggralamdc@alcaldia_teg.hn2.com
ccomputoamdc@alcaldia_teg.hn2.com
La Ceiba:
llanticentro@tropicohn.com
San Pedro Sula:
sps@honduras.com
alcaldia@netsys.com
Rumor has it Hillary Rodham Clinton will visit Honduras mid-November.
Update on Guanaja by Jeanne Greatorex:
Planes to the island of Guanaja seem to be fewer yesterday, undoubtedly because of the fuel shortage. Fuel (diesel, gas, etc) is almost impossible to buy in La Ceiba, so I hear, without a special permit. I was told this by 3 people who are in La Ceiba now buying some supplies before they fly out to Guanaja. They are flying with Rollins airlines. Does anyone know the status of Islena or SOSA flights?
The Caribbean Star is at Guanaja now (talked to Deep Reef this morning) and will be back to Tampa on Saturday for next load. A freighter from the Cayman Islands that should have departed Caymans on Tues. only left today due to bad weather. This ship should be in Guanaja on Saturday.
Also on Saturday a barge carrying supplies will depart from Caymans.
The stateside partners of the people at Willmette Bay on the north (and slightly west) side of Guanaja are leasing an 8-seater plane and will fly into Guanaja tomorrow (Friday) with a reporter and supplies. This might be pending if they cannot find a place to re-fuel.
Thursday - November 5, 1998
Daily Report from HONDURAS.COM STAFF:
Today our team went on a recon mission to a small community isolated in the banana plantations of the Chiquita Company. This mission was carried out using a small aluminum boat with a 15 hp motor. The boat was designed for four people, at one point in time we carried seven across the Ulua River. We navigated downstream this river about nine
kms. from the Independence bridge at the entrance of El Progreso (the town is locally referred to as "Heaven's Gate, Hell's Window").
We arrived in the town of China Lean, a community that has only received water supplies to date. However, the rotting
banana plantation surrounds them, so they have a secure food supply for about another week, at which time they will
need to source additional food supplies. A medic mission arrived while we were inspecting the area, but due to the
magnitude of the catastrophe, the medics were only assisting in life threatening situations and basic first aid.
Many of the victims of Mitch are young children who are suffering from all kinds of illnesses. The main ones are
conjunctivitis and respiratory illnesses. Many men are suffering from exposure and feet problems. These feet problems
are caused by fungi that proliferated in the mud and attacked those who spent extended periods of time in the mud.
We heard a complaint on the other side of the river that the local security personnel of the banana company would not
allow people to take bananas. We understand that is the normal procedure and is usually quite valid. Nonetheless, in
this unique situation in which the bananas are going to rot on the trees since they are no longer exportable, we
sincerely hope that the management of the plantation orders the security personnel to allow these starving people
access to these bananas that will go to waste otherwise.
Another complaint that we heard involved the plantain plantations. According to our source, the plantain seedlings are
still salvageable if immediate corrective action is taken, i.e. drain the plantation of its high water level. If they remain
underwater much longer, then pests will infiltrate and they will be lost. We know very little about plantains, so we
cannot vouch whether this assertation is true or not. One thing is for certain, though, the whole country is topsy-turvy
and many details such as this one easily may be overlooked.
It's difficult to describe the river scene, miles and miles of flooded banana plantations, and the water level is dropping
very slowly. Bugs are starting to come out, especially mosquitoes. We saw both helicopters and vultures flying around,
in other words, life and death surrounds the people trapped in these banana plantations.
The most common illnesses include respiratory problems, conjunctivitis, and feet fungi (from extended mud exposure).
Most of the ones suffering are small children and the photographs that we took today hopefully will graphically show
their plight and motivate others throughout the world to send aid to Honduras ASAP!!!
Tomorrow we plan to accompany the US Army missions that have been delivering aid packages by helicopters to
isolated communities. The plan is to visit Yoro, the capitol city of the department, and which has not received any aid
whatsoever to date.
Like we have repeatedly stated, the Honduras.com team is extremely proud of the fact that we have been actively
assisting the authorities in managing this catastrophe. Our reporting efforts to you and other readers around the world
takes the back seat when it comes to helping our country overcome this crisis. Nonetheless, please check back with us
often as we continue to report on the events surrounding Mitch's impact on Honduras!!!
Today's photo is of some of the victims playing gospel tunes on their instruments to lift the spirits of all :)
Photos from Nov. 5th Rescue Operation
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