Hurricane Felix Damage Assessment Report
Mark Ebert and Kevin Frack
September 17, 2007
Greetings in the name of Jesus, our Savior and Lord, who calls us to proclaim Good News to all the earth! We give all praise and thanks to God, whose Sovereign power is greater than the storm, and whose mercy and love reach beneath the depths of the woes and circumstances of those in despair.
Mark Ebert, Director of Moravian Disaster Relief for North America and Kevin Frack traveled to Nicaragua September 10 – 16, 2007 to demonstrate the love of Christ with our presence as a message of solidarity in their time of crisis, and to make an assessment of damage from Hurricane Felix.
We met with the following persons, all of whom seem to play a significant role in the recovery:
-Rev. Cora Antonio, President Nicaraguan Moravian Church
-Daily meetings with Nicaraguan Moravian Church Commission on Hurricane Felix Response, chaired by Steadman Bent and PEC second Humberto ?
-John Bowman, Central American Coordinator for Samaritan’s Purse and his five man team.
-Galio Gaudin, Nicaraguan Director of United Nations program of World Food Relief (PMA in Spanish).
-The Mayor of Puerto Cabezas
-Rev. Norman Bent, retired Moravian Pastor, former Director of CASIM (Moravian Church Social Action Committee). Norman has many contacts in government, NGO’s, and ecumenical circles.
-Lamberto Cambell, President/Director of Council of RAAN (Autonomous Region of the Atlantic, North)
-Cora and Luigi Mejia Ruiz (504-333-50300) from Puerto Lempira, Honduras, appointed by Honduran government to fly over the Rio Coco region and assess damage on Honduran side of the border.
-Humberto Thomson, Executive Director CEDUPAZ (Centro de Educacion para la Paz y la Justicia)
-Pastors from the Ecumenical Council of Pastors in Puerto Cabezas, including: Moravian, Baptist, Church of God, Roman Catholic, Anglican Episcopal, Church of the Word (Verbo), Assembly of God.
-Leadership of CEPAD (ecumenical Christian action in Nicaragua)
-Larry Palmer, retired former treasurer of the BWM and of the Nicaraguan Province.
-Ray Griggs, Ag Engineer/Business Development from Unity of the Brethren in Texas, living in Puerto Lempira, Honduras, but working 80 % of time in Puerto Cabezas. Ray has more than ten years of experience working in La Moskitia and in developing small businesses, currently a wood management, door fabrication, and export business.
-Marcos ?, UN worker with World Food Relief, from Switzerland told us about inability of shipments to reach Musawas and that food is stored in Siuna.
-Community leaders in Sandy Bay Tara and Panwa.
-US AID Executive Official David Hallengren out of Managua. Email
dhallengren@usaid.gov-US AID Regional Coordinator Timothy Callahan out of Costa Rica . Email
tcallahan@ofda.govIn addition to assessment of damage, we hoped to identify the key points of coordination and communications among relief efforts. Since there is a certain amount of confusion with so much aid pouring in, it was our hope to ensure that the main players work together to avoid duplication of efforts and that no village would go unattended to. We were very impressed with the measure of organization at the Puerto Cabezas airfield. As planes loaded with relief supplies arrived, teams of local residents and Nicaraguan army personnel unloaded supplies onto trucks which were immediately transferred either to awaiting US Navy and Nicaraguan helicopter crews for distribution to communities unreachable by road, or to warehouses in Puerto Cabezas for later shipment by road. This was truly a miraculous testimony to how well quite disparate groups can work together for the common good when the proper motivation exists.
We noted relief supply participation from:
-US AID
-UN World Food Relief (PMA)
-Red Cross
-Samaritan’s Purse
-Venezuelan air cargo planes and helicopter medical teams
-Mexican naval medical teams
-Cuban medical teams
-Guatemalan cargo planes
-Honduran cargo planes
-US cargo planes, Navy helicopters for remote distribution, and airfield control units
-El Salvadorian air cargo planes
-MAF cargo planes
-Nicaraguan Army and helicopter teams
-North American work crews began arriving to repair some of the various church properties from other denominations (Baptist, Church of the Word, Assembly of God).
The worst of the hurricane damage seems to have been confined to a corridor north of Puerto Cabezas and south of the Rio Coco River, running diagonally southwesterly for at least 60 miles inland. There was not evidence of much water damage from tidal surge, but most cement structures in this zone lost their roofs, and nearly all wooden structures were rendered uninhabitable. Within this strip 40 miles wide, most large trees both in towns and in the jungle were flattened, trees stripped of all leaves by the 160 plus mile/hour winds. This means the complete destruction of farm crops and fruit trees. Many food animals have been killed by wind and falling timber, raising concerns for impending health danger as they are still buried under piles of brush. The number of downed trees, while on the front end is catastrophic, during recovery, may provide a valuable resource in reconstruction. The villages surrounding Sandy Bay along the coast, the villages around Sisin and Santa Marta along the highway to Waspam, and the villages around the mining region seemed to be the hardest hit. Some villages had still not been heard from at the end of the second week.
We were informed that the 10 communities of Musawas were cut off by an eight mile stretch of highway which was completely blocked with ancient trees. Only two chain saws in Musawas were working to clear the road. As of Friday, aid intended for Musawas had been redirected, since trucks nor helicopters were able to deliver their goods. We tried to connect the Moravian Church with UN World Food Relief who informed us that food was being warehoused in Siuna, with the intention to get it to Musawas.
In the village of Panwa, about 20 miles by road from Santa Marta, we were the first outsiders in the village. The only building with walls standing was the Moravian Church. People were huddled in rubble. This village, once rich with citrus trees had been decimated. We had brought tarps with Samaritan’s Purse for each family to at least get out of the weather while they slowly rebuild. They mentioned that many animals had also perished, but no human lives had been lost.
On the data board outside the Moravian Provincial Office building in Puerto Cabezas, updated information estimated that 150,000 persons were adversely affected by storm damage. At least 35 Moravian churches and pastoral houses were destroyed. While it is still difficult to get an accurate count on fatalities, current death toll seems to be about 125, mostly killed off the coast on the fishing industries of Miskito Keys or on boats fleeing the storm. Leaders in the town of Sandy Bay told us they still had 150 residents missing. The welfare of their dependants is a major concern. Rev. Padilla, Moravian Pastor in Dakura, north of Puerto Cabezas, was killed along with his two grandchildren when a tree fell on them. He had decided to ride out the storm with his people.
Puerto Cabezas, south of the worst damaged region, received the most publicity for damage because it is the most accessible. We noted that most buildings in Puerto Cabezas had some damage: cement buildings lost some or all of their roofing sheets; most wooden structures had some structural damage. Almost every large tree in Puerto Cabezas was down. Power had been turned off in anticipation of the storm, but with the help of work crews from Managua, power was being restored one street at a time. By the time we left (09/15) only the outlying regions had yet to be put back online. The main road to Managua had been out, but the ferry had been repaired and trucks began the 15 plus or minus trip last week. Several Moravian Buildings in Puerto Cabezas are severely damaged: the Jan Amos Comenius High School (most of roof), ADSIM office building (lost complete roof), Santa Trinidad Church building (lost complete roof), Moravian Elementary School building (completely destroyed). The priority in Puerto Cabezas seemed to be clean-up from the unimaginable amount of downed trees. We were quite impressed with how much had already been accomplished against the overwhelming task to beat the onset of disease. There was a strong desire to resume Moravian school classes as soon as possible to restore some pattern of normalcy for the children, regardless of whether the government schools would close or not.
The emergency relief council designated that Puerto Cabezas was not a priority to receive emergency aid in favor of the more completely destroyed villages in remote sections. This created some anger from residents of barrios (neighborhoods) around Puerto Cabezas whose wooden structure homes were severely damaged. Many of the poorest of Puerto Cabezas were unable to put a dry roof over their heads and had spent a frustrating week wet, overwhelmed to rebuild, yet seeing great quantities of aid going out to others. These people are also in need.
We spoke with Cora and Luigi Mejia Ruiz (504-333-50300) from Puerto Lempira, Honduras. They were appointed by the Honduran government to fly over the Rio Coco region and assess damage on Honduran side of the border. It was their assessment that Honduras was spared the level of destruction Nicaragua suffered. There is some flooding, and a large percentage of Honduran farm crops will be lost along the border. There were five reported deaths of Hondurans, but they added that these were killed in the fishing business off the Miskito Keys. The town of Raya, near the border with Nicaragua had ten houses blown down. However, it was their opinion that Honduras will have some crop failure and short to medium term needs for food assistance, but the level of structural damage was minimal.
While there seems to be ample emergency food for several weeks, most aid providers informed us that they were not planning a long term presence. This leaves the Moravian Church and local coalitions with a daunting challenge to rebuild. US AID did make a grant of $10,000 available to the Moravian Church in Nicaragua as a test run to see whether the Moravian Church could show transparent and effective use of funds for the greatest good. They suggested that much more money could be forthcoming if the initial amount is well handled.
In our conversations with the Moravian Commission on Relief, it is their opinion that the priority of assistance is to care for pastors and their families and to rebuild the churches and as the center of community life. When we suggested that rebuilding peoples’ homes was critical, they insisted that since pastors depend upon the generosity of congregations, who would be preoccupied with personal concerns, that maintaining the pastoral family in the presence of their congregations throughout the crisis would fulfill a vital role of leadership and spiritual healing. Also, by rebuilding the church and church schools as a common gathering place, the psychological benefit of restored worship and community gathering would have far reaching effects in rallying folks to then rebuild their own family lives.
It is our assessment that we are talking about years rather than weeks or months needed for rebuilding. While the Moravian Church in Nicaragua has many talented and gifted individuals, they may need help to equip the right people to serve in the best places of leadership and development. The presence of North Americans at other churches seemed to have an extremely positive effect on the morale of those working with them. While necessarily and only at the invitation of the Nicaraguan Moravian Church, we believe there is value in beginning to send US teams sooner rather than later, and to carefully coordinate their efforts in culturally sensitive cooperative ventures. The task of cleanup is overwhelming without adequate tools and manpower, let alone the work of reconstruction. This would need to be worked out with complete respect to Nicaraguan culture and leadership. While there is need for general labor at all levels, we believe that North American workers with specific skills could work side by side with Nicaraguans to develop Christian friendships and disciple/train for future benefit. Already a Youth Partnership is in development with the Director of Youth Ministries for Nicaragua for joint Nicaraguan/North American teams of young people to work on reconstruction together.
The Moravian Church in Nicaragua developed an extensive list of needed items (see attached) in response to the emergency caused by Hurricane Felix. The prices considered were a best-guess estimate from Nicaragua. We are certain that more favorable prices are available in the U.S. As good stewards we suggest contacting Rose Taylor with Miami’s Home Depot system (cell phone: 305-522-5297; email:
rose_taylor@homedepot.com. She is interested in helping us with a discount on large quantity purchases of supplies and materials. We recommend purchasing needed items here and arranging for container shipment to Puerto Cabezas from Miami.
Ray Griggs also submitted a plan to lease idle sawmills from the Moravian Church, put them into working condition, employ five-man crews to begin sawing the billions of dollars worth of downed trees, first for reconstruction lumber, and then, for economic recovery. His initial proposal was favorably received. Attached, please find Ray’s proposal and the other following reports:
-Iglesia Morava En Nicaragua Comisiones Formados Oficialmente (Emergency Commission and sub-commissions officially formed)
-Gobierno De La Region Autonoma del Atlantico Norte . . . Danos Ocasionados por El Hurican Felix (Government Damage Report From Hurricane Felix)
-Various census reports on the different regions affected
-Ray Griggs Proposal "Wood Mizer Thoughts and Plans"
-"List of Needed Items in Response to the Emergency Caused by Hurricane Felix" from the Nicaraguan Moravian Church.
Phases of Possible North American Assistance:Short Term – Emergency ReliefPrayer
Donations of food, clothing, tarps, medicines
Donations of tools for cleanup and initial reconstruction, including chain saws, and hand tools as per list of needed items
Training in basic machine tool care and maintenance
Healthy communications and cooperation with all helping agencies addressing emergency assistance
Work teams to help in cleanup and preliminary repairs
Repair churches and church schools
Assure sources of clean drinking water
Medium Term – ReconstructionPrayer
Personal, spiritual, psychological, physical healing
Building materials as per list of needed items
Development of healthy inter-cultural partnerships for rebuilding
Rebuild homes
Replant farms and trees
Portable sawmills to provide employment, building materials, local economic development
Long Term – RedevelopmentPrayer
In development of agri-business projects for pastor/village support
In development of infrastructure for fourth sector funding of mission opportunities
In development of models for Nicaraguans to help others recover in the future
It is our humble trust that you will be moved in mercy to respond in Christian love to a part of the Body of Christ in pain. Perhaps more than the physical needs, which words cannot possibly depict, is an opportunity to sensitively come alongside Nicaraguan sisters and brothers, not in paternalism to fix something for them, but to experience God’s renewing presence together for a new tomorrow. Please let us know if we can offer any more detailed information at this time.
In His service,
Kevin Frack and Mark Ebert
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