The tropical storms Eta and Iota severely affected Honduras between 3 and 16 November 2020. The country was completely devastated. This damage was compounded by the social, health and economic complications caused by the pandemic, which also made it more difficult to manage.
The combination of COVID-19 and the arrival of the two hurricanes caused the country’s poverty rate to rise to 60%, and then to 70% due to health and weather issues.
After nearly 20 years working in Honduras, ASL has developed some 20 projects related to the education and health sectors. Due to the passage of these last two hurricanes (added to the damage already caused by the pandemic), the needs that had arisen in the areas where ASL worked were identified in order to act with maximum effectiveness and efficiency in meeting the needs of the most vulnerable families, who were even more affected by the storm.
Thanks to the support received from Catalan public administrations, action has been taken with the overall aim of restoring the basic fundamental rights of the population affected by tropical storms, as well as with the specific aim of promoting the right to education, access to healthcare, food and security in the municipalities of Choloma, Villanueva, San Antonio de Cortés and Potrerillos.
The project has been carried out in different stages, depending on the availability of resources and the urgency of the actions:
The bulk of this project was carried out between November 2020 and June 2021: a campaign was conducted to distribute basic necessities to 150 families in the community of La Masica (San Antonio de Cortés); the roof of the Potrerillos fire station was repaired; the John Cook school was refurbished (walls and roofs, electrical system, equipment repaired and renovated, purchase of computer equipment, etc.); and finally, we completely refurbished the Monterrey Clinic (Choloma), which suffered severe damage to all its facilities.
Between November and December 2021, we carried out a second intervention that allowed us to repair the floor of the John Cook School, which had collapsed as a result of flooding. The entire José Cecilio del Valle School was painted, and furniture was purchased and repaired for this same school (desks, shelves, filing cabinets, etc.).
In July 2022, we will complete the closure of the Monterrey health centre, which has been delayed due to issues with the availability of municipal funding (at the local level). However, the clinic has already been reopened and has been fully operational since March 2021.