More than 400,000 people in Honduras and Guatemala are in urgent need of humanitarian aid.
140,000 homes were destroyed by deadly storms Eta and Iota and 330,000 people have been cut off from emergency assistance as a result of damaged roads and communication systems in Honduras. Eta and Iota killed more than 200 people in Central America, according to news reports, and caused heavy damage to infrastructure and homes in countries already battling poverty and the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The situation is utterly dire,” Dominika Arseniuk, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) Country Director for Central America and Colombia said in a news release. “Entire communities have been cut off by floods and landslides. Hundreds of thousands of people are yet to receive humanitarian assistance, thousands are sleeping on the streets and under bridges.”
Even before the storms hit, 5.2 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, according to United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), citing chronic poverty, gang violence and climate change.
The NRC, along with 12 other international organisations, has urged the UN to develop a funding plan to boost coordinated humanitarian response efforts for the region.
“This region has been completely neglected by the international community,” Arseniuk said. “It has one of the highest levels of people leaving and seeking asylum in the world. The number of violent crime-related deaths is higher than in many of the world’s worst war zones. And it is one of the most affected by extreme weather events, as we’ve seen this year,” she added. “What more does it take for the humanitarian community to step up?” she asked.
Over 400,000 need urgent aid in Central America: Rights group | Latin America | Al Jazeera
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