“Due to continuing severe weather conditions throughout Guatemala, the Embassy strongly recommends that U.S. citizens postpone all in-country travel until the weather improves and landslides are cleared. This includes travel on roads and highways that traditionally have been less affected by seasonal rains. The recent heavy rains mean that water saturation in the mountains is high and more landslides could occur.”
The bulletin from the US Embassy in Guatemala City only describes the surface of the calamity that has struck Guatemala and neighboring El Salvador. El Salvador, currently leading the reported death count of 32, is ahead of Guatemala by four. The number of missing and displaced is estimated to be over a hundred thousand and with many villages cut off and or demolished, these figures are liable to rise when the waters recede. Hurricane Mitch, which set the standard for destruction in 1998 in Central America, has now lost the record for rainfall. El Salvador has reported over four feet of rain in the last week and it isn’t over.
Central America doesn’t have the same standard of housing that many nearby countries adhere to. Many ‘houses’ are built from substandard materials such as wood, plastic and corrugated tin. Occasionally locally made cinder blocks are available but these are more expensive than recycled materials and when the rains come, ‘water-proof’ isn’t a condition anyone can count on. Having a simple roof over the family is about as good as it gets and when day after day of torrential downpours hammers the home-made hand-crafted structure they’ve built, odds are that something’s going to give. Adding to the misery, many homes are built on unstable hillsides or in flood-prone low lying areas. The best land is taken by the agricultural interests and the campesinos build on land that nobody else wants. Simply put, it’s a recipe for disaster when the rains are more than usual and that’s exactly what’s happened. When the clouds clear and the rivers eventually fall, the numbers of dead and missing will be counted again. The roads, those lifeblood routes of commerce, will be repaired some time later and the numerous bridges will be jury-rigged to allow the resumption of traffic. It’ll be a while before Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua return to normal: for those who’ve lost their homes, families and belongings, it may never happen.
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