Hurricane Eta made landfall in Nicaragua as a category 4 storm on November 3, subsequently moving across Honduras and Guatemala. Since then, it is estimated to have affected over 2.5 million people, from Panama to Belize, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). The hurricane has hit the country of Honduras especially hard, accounting for 1.7 million of those affected. Nicaragua and Guatemala are also bearing the brunt of the storm.
Hundreds of thousands of people have lost everything as the storm flooded entire villages and cities. Many are missing and feared dead, and the total number of victims will likely never be known. In Guatemala, the village of Quejá was buried under the side of a mountain torn off by the rain, where people have returned home to find everything—houses, animals, and people—buried under the mud. In Honduras, the valley surrounding the city of San Pedro Sula, home to over 2 million people, overflowed from nearby rivers and canals, leaving thousands of people trapped on their roofs for days without food or water.
In 1998, Hurricane Mitch devastated the region, becoming the most destructive storm that ever hit Central America and the second deadliest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded. Economists believe the loss inflicted by Hurricane Eta could be even worse. “Hurricane Mitch brought seven days of constant rain. Eta poured rain for 48 hours. Nonetheless, the water from Eta has flooded areas that 22 years ago weren’t flooded by Mitch and it has left a number of people who’ve lost everything that’s even greater than that of Mitch,” said Ismael Moreno, Jesuit priest and the director of non-profit media outlet Radio Progreso.
And this time around, the affected countries face a double crisis: the hurricane coupled with the coronavirus pandemic. The Honduran government has called on the international community for aid, which has been met with a slow and insufficient response. The United States Agency for International Development has pledged only $100,000 for what is expected to be a multi-billion-dollar disaster.
International aid agencies like the United Nations and the Red Cross are mobilizing for relief efforts and operations. The IFRC has launched a 20 million Swiss franc Emergency Appeal to fund local Red Cross efforts in the region. Operación Eta, carried out by a series of non-profit Honduran organizations, has collected hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide supplies to those most in need.
The effects of the storm will continue to reverberate throughout and beyond the region. The years following Hurricane Mitch prompted the first significant wave of Hondurans migrating to the United States, many of whom were granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Guatemala has already announced it will request TPS for its citizens following Hurricane Eta, and Honduras is expected to follow suit.