Menu
Login
Nickname

Password

Don't have an account yet? You can create one. As a registered user you have some advantages like theme manager, comments configuration and post comments with your name.
Advertising


Classified Ads
No Ads submitted yet
World News: Central America waits for Wilma Black Habits Articles Central American nations, already reeling from flooding and mudslides earlier this month in the aftermath of hurricane Stan, are now bracing for even more damage from hurricane Wilma.

Heavy rains are already pounding the region and the storm is being blamed for at least 13 deaths in Haiti and Jamaica.

But in some areas of Central America the devastation from Stan's arrival earlier this month is still being felt. In Guatemala at least 796 people were killed with many more still missing.

Torrents triggered an avalanche of mud that wiped away entire villages, including Panabaj. Heavy mud covers the town centre. On the outskirts, the mud comes to doorknob level. At the police station, its force pushed a truck deep inside the building.

The people of Panabaj are among the poorest in Guatemala. No one counted how many lived here before the mud came and no one knows exactly how many died under it.

Several hundred are buried under the mud for sure – one official suggests more than 1,000. In any case, the search for bodies is over. The area's been declared too unstable for digging.

As the region braces for another hurricane, more than 100,000 homeless are still trying to decide what to do next.

"There was no emergency plan. No one knew what to do," said Edgar Siquente, who works for the Guatemalan Justice Department. "Lives would have been saved if they had."

In El Salvador, conditions were just as savage, but the number of dead is measured in the dozens, not the thousands.

Modesto Rivas says he thinks he knows why. "We protected ourselves in case of emergency," he says.

His neighbourhood in San Salvador not only has its own shelter, it has organized its own emergency plan, with regular community meetings, someone to watch the weather and an evacuation bell to ring.

"Everybody takes it seriously," says Rivas. "First we take the old people out, then we take the children."

With training from a citywide community group and a little funding from Oxfam, the simple system is recreated across San Salvador. In some areas, trucks are enlisted to help with the evacuation.

Note: Last Updated Wed, 19 Oct 2005 22:13:38 EDT CBC News
Posted on Thursday, October 20 @ 10:35:05 UTC by jcohen



"Central America waits for Wilma" | Login/Create an Account | 0 comments
The comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content.

No Comments Allowed for Anonymous, please register
Copyright ® 2005 Black Habits