San Luis Hurricane Recovery

On October 5, Hurricane Nate churned off the coast of Costa Rica for two days and inundated the area around Santa Elena with over 20 inches of rain. In San Luis, the community next to the UGA campus in Costa Rica, Nate left a trail of massive destruction. Landslides and washouts blocked roads and cut off the community from the main Pan-American highway. Large boulders carried by floodwaters took out several bridges including those over the Guacimal and Sardinal Rivers. As a result of this, food and fuel are limited and many homes are severely damaged. The community has come together and everyone is working hard to clean up debris and make repairs. Because of the damage to businesses, the majority of the people are now out of work until after Christmas. The holiday season looks grim for these families and especially for their children.

Here is how you can help San Luis families get through this crisis. Our goal is to raise $20,000 by December 15 to meet the variable needs of the families for food, home repair, livestock replacement and children’s Christmas gifts. Funds will be transferred from Go Fund Me to Asociacion de Desarrollo Integral de San Luis , a legal organization in Costa Rica that receives and disburses emergency funds for San Luis. No fees are charged so all donations will go directly to San Luis.

This page was created by University of Georgia faculty members in the Tropical Biology program, Ron Carroll & Carol Hoffman and the students who are currently studying at the UGA San Luis campus. This is not a UGA fundraising effort.