Hurricane Relief for Honduras & Nicaragua
Donation protected
This evening (Monday, November 16, 2020), hurricane Iota is expected to make landfall on the Caribbean coast of Central America. The category 5 storm is predicted to cause “catastrophic” damage to a region that is already historically marginalized and impoverished. To exacerbate matters, this region is still only beginning to recover from hurricane Eta, which hit the exact same area 2 weeks ago, not to mention the problems that the covid-19 pandemic has brought to the area over the last several months.
For those who were understandably engulfed in coverage of the U.S. presidential elections and perhaps missed the news, hurricane Eta made landfall near the Nicaraguan indigenous Miskitu village of Wawa Bar on Tuesday, November 3. The category 4 storm caused massive devastation in both Honduras and Nicaragua, and triggered flooding and mudslides throughout the region.
For those who do not know, I have spent extensive time in this exact part of Central America. I began traveling to the Caribbean coast of Central America in 2016 and between January 2017 and December 2019, I spent over 2 years in the region conducting ethnographic fieldwork for my dissertation. In the process, I grew to consider so many people in the region to be among my closest friends. Over the past two weeks, my phone has been inundated with texts and calls from friends who have lost homes, fishing boats, livestock, etc. due to hurricane Eta. As the region is now attempting to brace for an even more intense storm, I am deeply concerned for the wellbeing of so many close friends and devastated by the massive suffering hurricane Iota will inevitably cause.
In the aftermath of hurricane Eta, I sent small amounts of money to help friends in need and also organized emergency relief efforts for the most impacted populations. This aid was distributed with the help of numerous trusted local contacts in both Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua and Puerto Lempira, Honduras who were able to rapidly get funds to pay for shelter, food, clean water, etc to those who desperately needed it after the storm. In response to the looming destruction of hurricane Iota, I plan to again leverage my network of trusted locals to get relief funds to those who need them most in the most efficient way possible.
I will continue to update the pictures, but below is evidence of the destruction that was caused by hurricane Eta, the current conditions on the ground as hurricane Iota approaches land, and pictures of a few of the relief efforts I organized post-Eta.
I also included a few photos from when I was in the region; words really cannot express the natural beauty of the area and incredible people that live there.
In the wake of hurricanes Eta & Iota
Photos from before the pandemic & the storms...
Distribution of aid: I will be taking out the donations in my name and sending them (via Western Union, Moneygram, local banks) to my network of trusted friends who will then distribute aid on the ground. GoFundMe wants me to be explicit about the fact that the funds will be withdrawn to my account. I will then post evidence of the money being sent to Honduras and Nicaragua.
For those who were understandably engulfed in coverage of the U.S. presidential elections and perhaps missed the news, hurricane Eta made landfall near the Nicaraguan indigenous Miskitu village of Wawa Bar on Tuesday, November 3. The category 4 storm caused massive devastation in both Honduras and Nicaragua, and triggered flooding and mudslides throughout the region.
For those who do not know, I have spent extensive time in this exact part of Central America. I began traveling to the Caribbean coast of Central America in 2016 and between January 2017 and December 2019, I spent over 2 years in the region conducting ethnographic fieldwork for my dissertation. In the process, I grew to consider so many people in the region to be among my closest friends. Over the past two weeks, my phone has been inundated with texts and calls from friends who have lost homes, fishing boats, livestock, etc. due to hurricane Eta. As the region is now attempting to brace for an even more intense storm, I am deeply concerned for the wellbeing of so many close friends and devastated by the massive suffering hurricane Iota will inevitably cause.
In the aftermath of hurricane Eta, I sent small amounts of money to help friends in need and also organized emergency relief efforts for the most impacted populations. This aid was distributed with the help of numerous trusted local contacts in both Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua and Puerto Lempira, Honduras who were able to rapidly get funds to pay for shelter, food, clean water, etc to those who desperately needed it after the storm. In response to the looming destruction of hurricane Iota, I plan to again leverage my network of trusted locals to get relief funds to those who need them most in the most efficient way possible.
I will continue to update the pictures, but below is evidence of the destruction that was caused by hurricane Eta, the current conditions on the ground as hurricane Iota approaches land, and pictures of a few of the relief efforts I organized post-Eta.
I also included a few photos from when I was in the region; words really cannot express the natural beauty of the area and incredible people that live there.
In the wake of hurricanes Eta & Iota
Photos from before the pandemic & the storms...
Distribution of aid: I will be taking out the donations in my name and sending them (via Western Union, Moneygram, local banks) to my network of trusted friends who will then distribute aid on the ground. GoFundMe wants me to be explicit about the fact that the funds will be withdrawn to my account. I will then post evidence of the money being sent to Honduras and Nicaragua.
Organizer
Laura Blume
Organizer
Reno, NV
