Storm Washes Away Hopes for Future in Central America

Maria Corina Artola has never been wealthy or even financially comfortable. But Friday, she was the poorest she has ever been.

Little by little over the years, she had established herself as a street vendor, earning enough to support her four children in a shack along an open sewer. That was until tropical storm Mitch washed it all away.

Standing dazed before a few sticks of wood and plastic sheets donated by the Managua city government, Artola tried to figure out how to make a shanty that would shelter her family.

“All that I could rescue were my children because they are the most precious thing I have,” she said.

Artola’s tragedy underscores the plight of millions of people left homeless by Mitch and symbolizes the overall predicament of the tiny, poor countries of Central America where they live.

“Suddenly, in two weeks, we have lost what it took 50 years to build,” said Javier Ibisate, dean of economics at the University of Central America in San Salvador. “That is a strong blow.”

The tropical storm battered Salvadoran roads that still had heavy equipment on them from that country’s efforts to repave rural highways.

In Nicaragua, seven new bridges built with $20 million in Japanese aid had been inaugurated in the past three years. All of them survived, but this country must now replace 80 other bridges destroyed or damaged by Mitch.

Honduran officials estimate that their development efforts have been set back 30 years. El Salvador, Guatemala and Belize suffered relatively few deaths and less damage than Honduras and Nicaragua.

Panama and Costa Rica largely escaped damage.

Mitch, the fourth-largest hurricane to hit the Caribbean, will go down in the record books as the most destructive storm since the Great Storm of 1780 killed 20,000 people.

One U.N relief official termed Mitch the worst natural disaster in Latin America in a century.

On Friday, the number of confirmed dead had reached at least 8,000. As time passed, hopes of finding another 6,500 missing people alive were fading.

The rains and flooding also have come close to extinguishing the hope that the region would finally begin to recover from the devastating civil wars of the 1980s.

“As we say in El Salvador, it has rained on what was already wet,” Ibisate said. “There was so much destruction from the wars, and we had just begun to rebuild bridges and roads.”

Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Aleman estimated the cost of repairs at $1 billion. So far, international financial organizations have promised $63.5 million in loans for infrastructure, he said in a national radio broadcast.

Still, those loans will have to be repaid, he noted, predicting that interest on the foreign debt could climb to 40% or more of the national budget.

Governments also face angry citizens who want to know why it took so long to evacuate flooded areas and why it is taking so long to get food and medicine to survivors.

In Honduras, there were empty shelves in food stores, lines of hundreds of people waiting by trucks for drinking water and half-mile lines at gas pumps.

Many national budgets will have to be readjusted for spending on disaster repairs, Ibisate said. The exact amount is unclear because not all of the damage is known.

For example, flooding of the Pan American Highway just outside Managua, the Nicaraguan capital, has cut off communication with the northern part of the country. No one knows how much damage has been done to the parts of the highway still under water.

Production has dropped because road conditions prevent raw materials from being brought in from Puerto Cortes in Honduras.

“This is a regional disaster,” said Enrique Salvo, president of the Nicaraguan Industrial Chamber.

In a reminder of the days when wars spilled across the region’s borders, land mines have floated up in the flood waters along the Honduras-Nicaragua frontier, presenting new dangers. Likewise, the floods have presented scenes of heroism not seen since wartime.

In a shelter outside Managua, Francisca Aragon recounted with pride that her son, William Ramon, saved her and six other people when waters from the Izapa River carried away their home Oct. 31.

Her 14-year-old grandson, Wilmer Ramon, who is William Ramon’s son, plunged into the racing waters to save his 2-year-old sister, Deliciomada.

“He doesn’t even swim,” his grandmother said. “He held onto a tree branch and grabbed her by the hair.”

Throughout Central America, people are relying on such courage to help them face the grim future.

“With all that we have lost in human lives, crops and infrastructure, the future looks bitter for our countries,” Ibisate said.

But Salvo found one point of consolation: “One thing Nicaraguans have is that we have lived through so many disasters that we are crisis experts,” he said.

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How to Help

Southern Californians can help victims of Hurricane Mitch through several sources. The following organizations are accepting financial contributions to assist Central American flood victims. Checks should be marked for Hurricane Mitch Relief Effort:

* The American Friends Service Committee, through its Pacific Southwest Regional Office at 980 N. Fair Oaks Ave., Pasadena 91103-3097; (626) 791-1978.

* B’nai B’rith International, through its Center for Community Action at 1640 Rhode Island Ave., NW Washington, D.C. 20036-3278; (202) 857-6582 or email cca@bnaibrith.org.

* Operation USA, at 8320 Melrose Ave., Suite 200, Los Angeles 90069; 800-678-7255

* The Christian Children’s Fund, through its headquarters at 2821 Emerywood Parkway, Richmond Va. 23294; (804) 756-2780.

* Doctors Without Borders, through the group’s West Coast office at 2040 Avenue of the Stars, 4th Floor, Los Angeles 90067; (310) 277-2793 or (888) 392-0392.

* Save the Children, Hurricane Mitch Emergency Appeal, P.O. Box 975-M, 54 Wilton Road, Westport, Conn. 06880; (800) 243-5075.