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| Damage in Jutiapa, Cabañas, a PCV site |
domingo, 23 de octubre de 2011
Storm facts sent from Peace Corps and how to donate
International donations can be made through :
·
Bank of America – San Francisco - SWIFT:BOFAUS6S - ABA: 121000358
FACT SHEET ON RAINS IN EL SALVADOR
DUE TO TROPICAL DEPRESSION 12E
Since the entrance of Tropical Depression 12E, which occurred on October 10th of this year to date, the country has registered a historical maximum amount of rainfall of 1,500 mm in some areas. This amount of rain almost doubled the amount of rainfall reported during hurricane Mitch (1998).
· Average precipitation in El Salvador is approximately 1.800 mm per year. So far, in ten days some areas of the nation have registered more than 80% of the amount of rain that falls in one whole year.
· Hurricane Mitch, in 1998, caused 861 mm of rain, meanwhile Tropical Storm Stan in 2005 produced 766 mm of rain.
· So far, the death toll due to the tropical depression 12E has reached 34.
· Preventive evacuations maintained low the death toll in comparison with other natural disasters. Hurricane Mitch caused 240 human loses, Ida left 198 dead, and Stan registered 69 casualties.
· To date, a million people have been directly affected by the rain.
· There are 55,976 evacuees (15,195 families) and there are 683 shelters and refuges.
· In comparison, during Mitch the country had 10,000 affected and during Ida (2009) the amount reached 7,428 in 75 shelters.
· 10% of the national territory is flooded. The rainfall has affected directly 181 municipalities, which represent 70% of the total of municipalities nationwide.
· Authorities have distributed more than 470 metric tons of food to the victims.
· There are 18,445 flooded homes, 2,222 affected wells and 879 landslides on highways have been accounted for. There are more than 2,000 houses at high risk of flooding or to be affected by landslides.
· On October 17 the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador declared state of public calamity and disaster throughout the country for the next 60 days, as a result of the situation of vulnerability.
· There are 2,935 manzanas of damaged crops (around 5,000 acres).
· The heavy rains have caused the mudslides and flooding, swollen rivers, destroyed 4 bridges and damaged 14 other in the main routes.
· The Government of El Salvador made an international call for aid on Sunday October 16th to face the national emergency.
· The Ministry of Foreign Affairs through its Embassies and Consulates has initiated efforts to support the management of international cooperation
· Salvadorans living in the United States and Canada may contact 1-888-30-111-30 or visit the web site: www.rree.gob.sv/emergencia for more information on how to contribute.
· Donations can be made to an account set up the Government of El Salvador at BANCO AGRICOLA # 0590-057574-5, called “SETEFE-EMERGENCIA EL SALVADOR”. From abroad, international transfers can be made through :
· Bank of America – San Francisco - SWIFT:BOFAUS6S - ABA: 121000358
Since the entrance of Tropical Depression 12E, which occurred on October 10th of this year to date, the country has registered a historical maximum amount of rainfall of 1,500 mm in some areas. This amount of rain almost doubled the amount of rainfall reported during hurricane Mitch (1998).
· Average precipitation in El Salvador is approximately 1.800 mm per year. So far, in ten days some areas of the nation have registered more than 80% of the amount of rain that falls in one whole year.
· Hurricane Mitch, in 1998, caused 861 mm of rain, meanwhile Tropical Storm Stan in 2005 produced 766 mm of rain.
· So far, the death toll due to the tropical depression 12E has reached 34.
· Preventive evacuations maintained low the death toll in comparison with other natural disasters. Hurricane Mitch caused 240 human loses, Ida left 198 dead, and Stan registered 69 casualties.
· To date, a million people have been directly affected by the rain.
· There are 55,976 evacuees (15,195 families) and there are 683 shelters and refuges.
· In comparison, during Mitch the country had 10,000 affected and during Ida (2009) the amount reached 7,428 in 75 shelters.
· 10% of the national territory is flooded. The rainfall has affected directly 181 municipalities, which represent 70% of the total of municipalities nationwide.
· Authorities have distributed more than 470 metric tons of food to the victims.
· There are 18,445 flooded homes, 2,222 affected wells and 879 landslides on highways have been accounted for. There are more than 2,000 houses at high risk of flooding or to be affected by landslides.
· On October 17 the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador declared state of public calamity and disaster throughout the country for the next 60 days, as a result of the situation of vulnerability.
· There are 2,935 manzanas of damaged crops (around 5,000 acres).
· The heavy rains have caused the mudslides and flooding, swollen rivers, destroyed 4 bridges and damaged 14 other in the main routes.
· The Government of El Salvador made an international call for aid on Sunday October 16th to face the national emergency.
· The Ministry of Foreign Affairs through its Embassies and Consulates has initiated efforts to support the management of international cooperation
· Salvadorans living in the United States and Canada may contact 1-888-30-111-30 or visit the web site: www.rree.gob.sv/emergencia for more information on how to contribute.
· Donations can be made to an account set up the Government of El Salvador at BANCO AGRICOLA # 0590-057574-5, called “SETEFE-EMERGENCIA EL SALVADOR”. From abroad, international transfers can be made through :
· Bank of America – San Francisco - SWIFT:BOFAUS6S - ABA: 121000358
sábado, 22 de octubre de 2011
Storm of the century
As many of you have probably seen in the news, El Salvador recently experienced a really bad rain storm. It was not a hurricane nor even a tropical storm, it was what they call a tropical depression. Here they are calling it "the storm with no name" because it just had a number, 12-E. However, despite it not meeting the qualifications for receiving a name, it wreaked a lot of havoc. In fact, 12-E has done more damage than any hurricane here in El Salvador and is said to have been the worst storm the country has ever experienced. The reason for the extent of damage was the sheer quantity of rain that fell between October 10th and 19th, and the fact that it lasted so long. Because it is the rainy season the ground was already saturated, which set the stage for numerous landslides, mudslides, and floods. Bridges washed out and roads crumbled. At one point there were over 100,000 people evacuated and in shelters across the country, and an estimated 20,000 houses have been destroyed. At last count there were 38 storm-related deaths, although this is likely to increase as there were also a lot of people unaccounted for. The most affected areas are the coastal and western regions as well as parts of San Salvador and the central zone. One of the most hard-hit areas, the Bajo Lempa, received help for the first time only yesterday, as it had been unreachable for 9 days.
As far as I know none of the volunteers have been affected, although some of them live in communities that were evacuated. Morazán was one of the least affected departments but we still experienced over a week of unceasing rain. There were a few shelters set up here but mostly people were evacuated as a preventative measure and they have since returned to their communities. However, in other parts of the country there are still around 50,000 people in shelters and the rebuilding is estimated to take months. The most affected people were those who lived in vulnerable areas--at the edges of rivers, at the bases of mountains, or in other places where people with money would never build a house. These people now have nothing but they also never really had anything. Thus, the reconstruction not only will have to address the storm damages but also the poverty and lack of infrastructure that made these people so vulnerable to weather in the first place. If there is a silver lining to what happened here these last two weeks it would be that it increased public awareness of the living conditions of much of this country. Hopefully, because of this, more will be done to address extreme poverty and decrease peoples' vulnerability in the future.
I ended up spending three days in the capital this week when I went in for a doctor appointment and then couldn't leave due to the storm. We were on standfast, meaning that we couldn't travel from wherever we were, for a total of 9 days. Next week several of my coworkers are going to the Bajo Lempa to assist with disaster relief. Unfortunately, I can't go as it interferes with the volunteerism symposium we have been planning for months, but, hopefully, I will be able to help in the coming weeks. Also, to all of you RPCVs out there, I just got word that El Salvador will be soliciting Response volunteers to work in disaster relief, probably starting around January. Keep your eyes peeled for updates on the Peace Corps website!
As far as I know none of the volunteers have been affected, although some of them live in communities that were evacuated. Morazán was one of the least affected departments but we still experienced over a week of unceasing rain. There were a few shelters set up here but mostly people were evacuated as a preventative measure and they have since returned to their communities. However, in other parts of the country there are still around 50,000 people in shelters and the rebuilding is estimated to take months. The most affected people were those who lived in vulnerable areas--at the edges of rivers, at the bases of mountains, or in other places where people with money would never build a house. These people now have nothing but they also never really had anything. Thus, the reconstruction not only will have to address the storm damages but also the poverty and lack of infrastructure that made these people so vulnerable to weather in the first place. If there is a silver lining to what happened here these last two weeks it would be that it increased public awareness of the living conditions of much of this country. Hopefully, because of this, more will be done to address extreme poverty and decrease peoples' vulnerability in the future.
I ended up spending three days in the capital this week when I went in for a doctor appointment and then couldn't leave due to the storm. We were on standfast, meaning that we couldn't travel from wherever we were, for a total of 9 days. Next week several of my coworkers are going to the Bajo Lempa to assist with disaster relief. Unfortunately, I can't go as it interferes with the volunteerism symposium we have been planning for months, but, hopefully, I will be able to help in the coming weeks. Also, to all of you RPCVs out there, I just got word that El Salvador will be soliciting Response volunteers to work in disaster relief, probably starting around January. Keep your eyes peeled for updates on the Peace Corps website!
viernes, 7 de octubre de 2011
UN study: Homicides soar in Central America
Mexico receives the majority of the press, but rates are higher per capita in Honduras and El Salvador.
Associated Press article
Associated Press article
sábado, 1 de octubre de 2011
Missing
I am definitely overdue for a blog post as it is now October! I am also motivated by an urge to connect to the outside world, i.e. friends and family back home, although I'm pretty sure no one but my mom reads this blog! I guess this feeling was probably brought on by missing out on a lot lately, by which I mean goings on at home and missing certain people. I missed a family reunion last weekend in honor of my uncle's 70th birthday, and this weekend, coincidentally, I am missing my 5th college reunion. 5 years isn't exactly a big-deal reunion, but it does remind me that it has been exactly that long since I've seen most of those people...whoa. And that I will miss out on seeing the dear friends I know will be there. It has also been a month full of despedidas of several of the volunteers here in Morazán, specifically the ones who had most welcomed me as I was an oddball newcomer who didn't have a training group cohort. A shout out to all of the people I alluded to in this paragraph if you happen to read this: "I love you and miss you!!! We will be together again someday!!!"
I think this "missing" is being compounded right now by being sick. I have a cold and just this morning lost hearing in my left ear (hopefully related to the cold). It is odd to have gripe when it is sunny and 90 degrees outside, although at night it has been raining more and last night I was even almost chilly before I went to bed. Hmm, it just occurred to me that maybe I should leave my sick-cave and let the sun "bake" the sickness out. Does that work?
I was intending to use this down-time to really make good progress on my grad school research, instead I have been dawdling on Pinterest and yesterday discovered fashion blogs. Like I had no idea that there were people who took pictures of themselves wearing different outfits from their closets from different angles on a daily basis, and then wrote about them. Even some people I know have these blogs, and people actually follow them. Speaking of missing, it just goes to show that there is a lot of strange phenomenon that I miss out on living abroad. And that although sometimes I feel bored, there are people who are more bored. I do, however, like some of the DIY sewing portions, because actually making and designing your clothes, not just wearing them, requires some real skill and creativity. I recently used for the first time the treadle sewing machine I have in my room that belongs to the owner of my house. It actually works great and was easy to get the hang of, I think the machines I used in the DR were maybe especially hard to use due to rust, dust, and the prevalence of improvised replacement parts (treadle belts made of IV tubes come to mind as one example). So... I haven't done it yet, but I plan to make something! I found a pattern online for a very simple skirt that is basically two squares and elastic, so I will probably start there.
I also recently went to a seamstress for the first time, inspired by by co-volunteer's ravings about his amazing tailored clothes every time we have meetings in the capital. He is right that getting something exactly made to fit is extremely cheap in this country and is an excellent option, especially for people who don't often fit into normal sizes. I personally was more motivated by the fact that I don't really like most of the clothes here, laundry is a pain, and I need nice clothes for work. So I drew a design for a work-type blouse, got some fabric, and went to the seamstress. If it turns out, I think it will be a breakthrough: designing your own clothes and then getting someone else to make them affordably is like the best of both worlds.
Don't worry, I have also been doing work these days, even during my sickness. Our project is coming along. This week we had an epic two-day meeting in the capital and managed to get a lot done. Among the recent progress has been the selection of the schools that are going to participate in the pilot program next year, the finalization of the content and agenda for the symposium we are hosting at the end of October for the leaders of the pilot schools, and a final work plan for the rest of the year that we will present to our new boss of bosses at the ministry who just took over from our old boss who got moved around to somewhere else within the top-dog hierarchy. I am looking forward to moving out of the planning stage and actually interacting with the people who will "make" this program next year. I think it is all about to get more fun.
I think I will go now since I have been writing for a while, and have probably sufficiently updated everyone on recent happenings. Since I am still relatively new to this blog thing, I sometimes wonder, should blog entries have plots? Should they tell a story? Should they have a moral or profound point? If yes, I think I have failed, at least in this most recent entry. I also wonder, who am I writing for? Since I don't really have a following, I guess the answer is me. Just as well, that will keep my writing authentic, but maybe incomprehensible to the rest of the world... Well, that's it for now. Stay tuned for more!
I think this "missing" is being compounded right now by being sick. I have a cold and just this morning lost hearing in my left ear (hopefully related to the cold). It is odd to have gripe when it is sunny and 90 degrees outside, although at night it has been raining more and last night I was even almost chilly before I went to bed. Hmm, it just occurred to me that maybe I should leave my sick-cave and let the sun "bake" the sickness out. Does that work?
I was intending to use this down-time to really make good progress on my grad school research, instead I have been dawdling on Pinterest and yesterday discovered fashion blogs. Like I had no idea that there were people who took pictures of themselves wearing different outfits from their closets from different angles on a daily basis, and then wrote about them. Even some people I know have these blogs, and people actually follow them. Speaking of missing, it just goes to show that there is a lot of strange phenomenon that I miss out on living abroad. And that although sometimes I feel bored, there are people who are more bored. I do, however, like some of the DIY sewing portions, because actually making and designing your clothes, not just wearing them, requires some real skill and creativity. I recently used for the first time the treadle sewing machine I have in my room that belongs to the owner of my house. It actually works great and was easy to get the hang of, I think the machines I used in the DR were maybe especially hard to use due to rust, dust, and the prevalence of improvised replacement parts (treadle belts made of IV tubes come to mind as one example). So... I haven't done it yet, but I plan to make something! I found a pattern online for a very simple skirt that is basically two squares and elastic, so I will probably start there.
I also recently went to a seamstress for the first time, inspired by by co-volunteer's ravings about his amazing tailored clothes every time we have meetings in the capital. He is right that getting something exactly made to fit is extremely cheap in this country and is an excellent option, especially for people who don't often fit into normal sizes. I personally was more motivated by the fact that I don't really like most of the clothes here, laundry is a pain, and I need nice clothes for work. So I drew a design for a work-type blouse, got some fabric, and went to the seamstress. If it turns out, I think it will be a breakthrough: designing your own clothes and then getting someone else to make them affordably is like the best of both worlds.
Don't worry, I have also been doing work these days, even during my sickness. Our project is coming along. This week we had an epic two-day meeting in the capital and managed to get a lot done. Among the recent progress has been the selection of the schools that are going to participate in the pilot program next year, the finalization of the content and agenda for the symposium we are hosting at the end of October for the leaders of the pilot schools, and a final work plan for the rest of the year that we will present to our new boss of bosses at the ministry who just took over from our old boss who got moved around to somewhere else within the top-dog hierarchy. I am looking forward to moving out of the planning stage and actually interacting with the people who will "make" this program next year. I think it is all about to get more fun.
I think I will go now since I have been writing for a while, and have probably sufficiently updated everyone on recent happenings. Since I am still relatively new to this blog thing, I sometimes wonder, should blog entries have plots? Should they tell a story? Should they have a moral or profound point? If yes, I think I have failed, at least in this most recent entry. I also wonder, who am I writing for? Since I don't really have a following, I guess the answer is me. Just as well, that will keep my writing authentic, but maybe incomprehensible to the rest of the world... Well, that's it for now. Stay tuned for more!
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