GUATEMALA CITY, Dec 23 (NNN-TELESUR) — Guatemala’s National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction (Conred) offered an update on damages caused by hurricanes Iota and Eta, highlighting that over 5,000 people are still in public shelters since November.
Heavy rain and flooding caused by hurricanes Eta and Iota left 61 dead and 99 people missing in the country.
Conred reported damages to at least 86,000 homes, 26 roads, 435 schools, and 51 bridges while noting that most of the displaced people are located in the departments of Alta Verapaz, Peten, and Izabal.
A total of 3,189 people are housed in 57 shelters in Alta Verapaz, while over 1,400 shelters are available in Peten and Izabal where there are villages still underwater.
Conred said that 106 state-runed shelters have been set up since November, but an estimate of 128,000 people are staying in unofficial ones.
On Nov 3, hurricane Eta made landfall on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua as a category 4 storm with winds of about 140 mph (220 km/h).
Category 5 hurricane Iota made landfall in the Colombian archipelago of San Andres, Providencia, and Santa Catalina on Nov 16 and moved along the northeast coast of Nicaragua with winds of about 155 mph (250 km/h).
More than 6.5 million Central Americans were directly affected and 441,000 people were evacuated and suffered significant losses.
The Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) reported that conditions in some shelters remain precarious due to inadequate infrastructure, sanitation, and limited access to safe water, all of which are critical to mitigating the pandemic. — NNN-TELESUR