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10th Anniversary of Hurricane Mitch
October 29th, 2008 will mark the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Mitch's landfall over Honduras. Known as the deadliest hurricane in over two hundred years, the data describing Mitch are both awesome and terrifying. At the time, Mitch tied as the fourth strongest hurricane on record and it is still the second longest hurricane, with 33 hours at category five status1. However, most of the damage caused by Mitch in Honduras was not due to wind, but water; an incomprehensible 75 inches of rain fell on the republic in a total of four days1. One area recorded 25 inches in a single day. Mitch's total death toll will never be known, but with estimates of between 11,000 and 18,000, the National Climate Data Center called Mitch the deadliest Atlantic hurricane since "The Great Hurricane" of 1780 killed more than 22,000 people1.
Although Hurricane Mitch's path of destruction spanned Central America, parts of Mexico, and even reached as far away as Florida, Honduras was by far the nation most affected by the hurricane. Over three million citizens (51% of the total population) became homeless through the complete obliteration of 25 villages1 and 30,000 homes, and the damage to an additional 50,000 homes. A total of $3.8 billion in damages to property, communications and transportation infrastructure included the destruction of 92 bridges3, damage to 70% of roads2 , ruin of 90% of banana crops2 and 70% of total crops3. The reigning president, Carlos Flores, stated that Hurricane Mitch would set the country's development back 50 years, and other sources estimated it would take the country 15-20 years to recover.
International aid in the form of food, medicine, rescue personnel, and construction materials flooded into the country immediately after the hurricane passed and crisis-level damage control began. However, the rise in poverty as a result of Mitch would prove to be a much longer-term and more complex setback. In response to this problem, Tony Stone, Stanford-graduate aerospace engineer and native of La Ceiba, returned to his childhood home and established Fundación Adelante in 1999. Adelante's success has been extraordinary. From September 2000 to December 2007, Adelante has disbursed over 42,000 loans to 11,665 clients totaling over 1.6 million dollars. Although, a number of microfinance institutions were already working in Honduras at the time of Mitch, Adelante unique mission to work with the poorest of the poor has helped to improve the standard of living of 44,600 of the least fortunate Hondurans5.
A comparison of several vital statistics indicates that, in some aspects, Honduras has shown marked growth since 1998, and in others it is still lagging behind. Some signs of development during the past decade include reductions in birth rate, population growth, and infant mortality; and increases in life expectancy and literacy across all age categories and both genders6. Furthermore, the percent of the population living on less than $1 a day has decreased by a dramatic 32%7, and unemployment/underemployment has decreased slightly. In contrast, the country's transportation infrastructure has yet to recover - the country still has 13.2% fewer highways than it did before Hurricane Mitch and 9% fewer airports6. Clearly, the overall trend is in the right direction, although there is much work yet to be done.
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1Source: National Climatic Data Center, "Mitch the Deadliest Atlantic Hurricane since 1780," 2004. Total rainfall estimates range from 50-75 inches in areas with the heaviest rainfall. However, since much of the rainfall-measuring equipment was destroyed in the storm, the true amount will never be known.
2Source: USAID report, "Effects of Hurricane Mitch, October-November 1998," Nov. 20, 1998.
3Source: United States Geological Survey webpage, "Hurricane Mitch, Central America," last updated February 20, 2007.
4Source: Inter-American Development Bank, "Central America after Hurricane Mitch," 1998.
5Ninety-nine percent of Adelante's clients are women who, during the last decade in Honduras, have had an average of four children each.
6CIA World Factbook, 1998 and 2008 reports, respectively.
7UNICEF State of World's Children, 1998 and 2008 reports, respectively.
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