About 2.5 million people in Central America have been affected by hurricane and tropical storm Eta, the Red Cross estimates Tuesday. Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala have been particularly hard hit.
Eta made landfall in Nicaragua last Tuesday as a hurricane. After that Eta passed like a tropical storm over Honduras and Guatemala. The storm is still causing nuisance on the American continent.
The International Red Cross starts a major relief effort to help people in the most affected areas. For example, some have lost their homes, while others have no access to food or clean drinking water.
1.7 million affected live in Honduras. Women, children and communities of indigenous people in particular have lost everything and are forced to drink polluted water, the Red Cross reports.
The aid organization therefore brings 98 tons of relief goods to those affected. These include hygiene kits, kitchen utensils, cleaning products and mosquito nets to prevent the spread of diseases by mosquitoes. Protective equipment is also sent because of the corona pandemic.
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Some people have lost their homes because of Eta. (Photo: ANP)
Presumably a few hundred fatalities
Local Red Cross organizations are already active in the affected countries. They helped the authorities before the arrival of Eta and are now engaged in rescue operations and the care of injured people.
Eta and the floods and landslides it created are believed to have killed several hundred people. In the remote mountain village of Queja, Guatemala, 150 people may have been killed by a mudslide.
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