Tropical Storm Barbara

Nicaragua has hit another rough spot in the road, and once again finds itself in a declared state of emergency. Several communities in the northwestern part of the country are experiencing severe flooding, due to Tropical Storm Barbara. This has been a terrible blow to the country, especially considering that Hurricane Felix swept through just barely over a month ago, destroying crops, homes, and taking lives.

The saying, “when it rains, it pours” couldn’t be more accurate here in Nicaragua. I have been here for almost a month now, catching only the end of the rainy season, but even in Managua when it rains it can be extreme. During the rainy season it rains pretty much everyday, down pouring and then stopping quickly. Streets flood, people can’t leave their homes for a few hours, and life outside of shelter is temporarily put on pause. While the rain certainly affects people in the city, its effects are multiplied in the more rural communities where there are no paved roads. Dirt roads turn into muddy rivers that you couldn’t cross even if you had all the ganas in the world (even if you wanted to).

Currently, there are about a dozen communities of the Lutheran Church that have been affected by severe flooding in the region of Chinandega. The official Action by Churches Together (ACT) report cites 3,600 people affected by the flooding, with over 2,000 people evacuated into temporary housing outside of the region. Several of these communities were also hit hard back in 1998 when Hurricane Mitch came through the country. In efforts to rebuild those communities almost ten years ago, the church went out and built homes that were capable of surviving harsh weather. Fortunately, this time around the houses themselves, and the people who live in them, have stood strong during these past few days of terrible rains. Unfortunately, most everything in these houses did not. People have lost food, clothing, furniture and belongings, and farmers once again lost crops and animals. Cars and cattle were swept away in the rains. Most of the buildings are still standing, but almost everything that was once inside of them is gone and will need to be rebuilt.

The situation began to get serious this past weekend, and yesterday (Sunday) Bishop Victoria went to Chinandega to assess the situation. Today (Monday), the church, working with the relief agency ACT (Action by Churches Together) purchased food items and packaged them to send to Chinandega. The packages, which are enough to last a family 15 days, include beans, rice, sugar, soap, corn, cooking oil, matches, oatmeal and coffee. We will deliver the packages to the communities tomorrow (Tuesday), in order to address their immediate short-term need. The pastors of the communities, along with at least one representative of the community board from outside the church, will have assessed the situation and assist with the distribution of food, giving priority to those most in need. In crisis situations like this, food and relief items are distributed to those with the largest need, regardless of whether they are part of the Lutheran Church.

The short-term need for food and supplies is being addressed, but considering that all of their current crops have been lost, thousands are now left without a steady source of food for the months to come. ACT and ILFE are working on plans to sustain them in the near future. As far as the longer term goes, the best-case scenario would be that conditions in November, the last month of the year to plant crops, are adequate. That would then allow the crops to be harvested in February. If November conditions are not adequate for planting, it will be even longer before the communities have the opportunity to see a sustainable harvest.

The communities of San Luis and La Carbonera in Somoto were also affected, but have not been inundated themselves. At this time they are unreachable because the roads to get there are inaccessible. They can survive for now on the food and provisions they have in their houses, provided that the rains do not worsen in the next few days. If conditions worsen, well… we’ll take it one step at a time.

The following is the translation of the informative letter Bishop Victoria, bishop and president of the Lutheran Church of Nicaragua, sent out to alert community leaders:


Managua, October 13, 2007

Dear brothers and sisters:

Once again I am writing, to share with you the sad situation that our Lutheran communities of the west are finding themselves in, especially in Chinandega. This whole week has been one of constant rain. They say that continually low pressure in Pacific Central America is causing this period of rain.

We are very worried because according to the meteorological service, tropical storm “Barbara” is already being felt in Nicaragua. As of right now, we have eleven flooded communities, nine of them without communication; some of which have been impossible to get to because the rivers have overflowed and the routes to enter into the communities are flooded.

For now, we are trying to prepare emergency packages that include basic food and some items of clothing.

Brothers and sisters of mine: thank you for reading my account, of which most is sad news, because it is hard for me to understand why the misfortunes fall upon the smallest, the excluded, the poorest.

I don’t lose my faith in our God of life, that He will move in the hearts of everyone to help this population that is suffering the ravages of rain.

SOLIDARITY IS THE PRESENCE OF GOD ON EARTH!!!!

With love, Your sister in Christ,

Bishop Victoria Cortez
President


That is the latest news for now. I’ll post more information as it comes along. The church is now asking for your thoughts and prayers to be with the people of Nicaragua, especially those affected by the rains, as the end of the road to recovery from a long string of natural disasters seems to be continually just out of reach.