Hurricane Relief

The COVID-19 pandemic is bad enough, but Honduras was recently devastated by two hurricanes in quick succession: Eta and Iota. The problem was not so much the wind, but an entire month of continual rain.

Whole regions of the country were flooded under several feet of water, 100,000s of people were made homeless, many roads and bridges were washed out or damaged by landslides, and crops were destroyed. Early estimates are that the country will require a $3 billion investment in infrastructure repairs.

Around Copán, the 38 villages where we work suffered a great deal. Many are without water or power. Others are cut off by impassable mountain roads. Homes and crops are also damaged. Mud is everywhere.

These villages are our partners in education and development programs. They desperately need our help in this time of exceptional need.

The municipality of Copán Ruinas, where many of our villages are located, provided us with detailed damage reports from all of their communities. We analyzed this data and concluded that – for various reasons – our top priority should be to repair broken water systems. Our second priority should be to repair roads and bridges. Projects like these are sustainable and help the most people.