We have been very busy here in Panama City, as well as in our offices in Managua of Nicaragua, as we are trying to understand the needs of the communities, whose lives and livelihoods have been affected by the tropical storm, referred to as 'Amanda'.

We are experiencing a slightly atypical situation, as the winds associated with the weather are relatively slow, and do not cause massive destruction as such. What is however happening is that the storm is bringing extremely heavy rains, which have been falling over El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras and parts of Mexico for a few days now. The information that we have, tells us that many parts of El Salvador (the most affected) received rainfall, which is an equivalent of an average annual precipitation, within just four days.

Entire communities in El Salvador and Honduras are destroyed by flooding and landslides. Around half a million of people are affected. Many people died, while thousands are displaced.

As the storm is happening in the midst of COVID-19 epidemics, the response to the needs becomes even more challenging (due to restrictions). Obviously, the communities already exhausted economically by the coronavirus confinement, will find it even more difficult to recover. Much attention and aid will be needed as soon as possible to help the most affected, but also, lots of work will need to be done in a longer term to help the people recover.

For now, it is still difficult to see how we will be able to assist the affected, as the rain still continues and is expected to make further damages for the following three days.

More news on this will continue in my following entries.