Hurricane Mitch

Hurricane Mitch

October of 1998 was a tragic month for the citizens of Central America due to the destruction brought by a huge hurricane named Hurricane Mitch. This hurricane destroyed the buildings in many communities, caused many deaths and provoked an outbreak of sicknesses. In my municipality of Pueblo Nuevo this month brought a lot of sadness. During the rains some people became trapped on the other side of the river, which had grown enormously with all the rain. The increased strength of the river tore down many houses and the people lost all of their belongings, which were taken away by the current. In addition, the river swept away a lot of the soil near its banks. In some cases, the soil of entire farms were swept away. Not only did these people lose their crops, but afterwards when the water level fell again, they realized that they didn't have anywhere to plant new crops; all of the soil was gone!

My family was really scared during the hurricane. It rained and rained without a single break for many days and the river grew so much it almost reached our neighborhood. I remember that my mom hugged us all close and prayed to God that the rain would disappear.

This great suffering that the hurricane brought us made us feel again like all of us in Central America are one united family because despite the distances between us as soon as it was possible, donations and help began to arrive from many different countries. Hundreds of men, women and youth worked hard during entire days to bring relief and aid to those most affected.

Our municipality was once a place of many trees and a beautiful river full of water. Now, however, after the hurricane things aren't the same. The strength of the hurricane and floods ripped up lots of the trees in the mountains and on the riverbanks and took them away. These trees used to help trap and maintain the water in the soil. Because of this there was water in our wells and river all year round. Now, without these trees, every time it rains the water rushes down to the river all at once and is washed away. Because of this, our river now dries up completely by the end of summer and makes Pueblo Nuevo feel like someplace else; not our home. With all of the damage that Hurricane Mitch caused, we are still working to return our environment to how it was before. ~ Katherine.