The Times
1998
Hurricane Mitch
Hurricane Mitch had struck land on the 27
th
of October and has caused a lot of devastation tothe landscape and the people. As HurricaneMitch tore across Central America, the mostdeadly Atlantic storm in two centuries left a trailof destruction in its wake.
The hurricane began in the Caribbean Sea and itreaches land, passed over Central America beforedying out over Mexico. The main countries thatwere in the hurricanes path were: Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and Belize.Whilst Mitch was one of the strongest Atlantichurricanes on record. It was actually the hugeamount of rainfall deposited by such a slow movingstorm which caused most of the damage. Mostrainfall recording
instruments would have beendestroyed during the storm. However, Jon Hellinfrom the Natural Resources Institute said somerecords which survived indicated rainfall totals inSouthern Honduras of 25" in 36 hours and 10" in 6hours between 29 and 31 October.
Effects Of The Hurricane
The effects of the hurricane were dreadful about10,000 are believed to have been killed, with Nicaragua and Honduras bearing the brunt of thestorm. Development in some of the westernhemisphere's poorest countries has been set back byas much as 50 years.The worst hit country was Honduras, in which thedeath toll estimate of 5,657deaths and more than8,000 people are still unaccounted for.
The effectson the landscape were equally bad with, incessantrain flooded at least 50 rivers, knocking out bridgesand roads and inundating many towns in its path.Ambassadors also from the region of where thehurricane hit warned a United Nations meeting in New York that famine and disease - such as choleraand malaria - were a grave threat to the people.
Help On Its Way
The Red Cross and countries including the UnitedStates, Britain, Spain and Norway have providedsome aid to the region..The international community is offering help, withsome several million dollars coming from theUnited States and the European Union. USPresident Bill Clinton said his country had provided $2m in food, medicine, water and other emergency relief supplies, and the European Unionhas offered more than $8m worth of aid.Meanwhile UN World Food said that it haddistributed over 100,000 tons of food previouslyearmarked for development projects in Nicaraguaand was distributing food in Honduras.Additionally, UNICEF said it had provided$20,000 worth of medicine to Nicaragua and wasshipping 500,000 sachets of oral rehydration salts,used in cases of diarrhea and cholera.However, Mr Ortega Urbina, who is theAmbassador of Nicaragua, says that this is notenough and that his country desperately needs moreassistance. The Nicaraguan ambassador, also said,³We will not have crops for the next six months sothere will be hunger´
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