Hurricane Mitch

Hurricane Mitch occurred during the summer of 1998 and would come to be known as the second most destructive hurricane in recorded history. Mitch struck ten different countries, most heavily Honduras, and killed almost 19,000 people, caused 6 billion dollars in damages, and led to the homelessness of over three million people all across Central America. Tens of thousands remain missing to this day, although they are presumed to have perished in the storms.

              

Hurricane Mitch was designated as a Category 5 storm, which is the strongest possible rating on the modern scale. Its winds blew up to 190 mph and led to massive floods, squalls, and cyclone winds. Several countries ordered “red alerts,” which led to the evacuation of millions in major cities across Central and South America, including Belize City, which saw its entire population evacuated. Despite these measures, many were still unable to avoid the effects of the storm because of a combination of poor infrastructure, lack of knowledge on essential hurricane survival skills in the general populace, and poor prevention efforts on the part of many leaders in the affected countries.

             

The damage was most severe in Honduras, where the president stated that the hurricane had destroyed fifty years worth of progress in the form of infrastructural damage. Flooding was widespread, transportation had shut down, and it was near impossible to reach many people in affected areas. Epidemic diseases carried by the flood waters had exploded within the population which led to thousands of dead and thousands more suffering. Hurricane Mitch had created a full-blown humanitarian crisis.

             

It is hard to imagine what survival skills that citizens could have used to prevent the catastrophic loss of life that emerged in Mitch’s wake. The flooding was so extensive and so rapid that many citizens likely could not have gotten far enough inland in time to avoid the roaring waters. Honduras, a poor country, likely did not possess the helicopters and transport vehicles necessary to evacuate, rescue, and deliver supplies to their countrymen. It is a difficult question to ask “what if,” in a situation where so much damage has been done, but it is a necessary one in order to ensure that such cataclysms do not occur in the future.