Nicaragua-Atlantic Coast Hurricane Relief: Damage Assessments

This September 18 report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is a comprehensive and straightforward damage assessment.
However, if you want a a lot more place-specific data, this is a very detailed damage assessment from the Nicaraguan emergency management agency, dated Sept. 10. (37 page pdf)
On September 14 the UN issued an appeal for $40 million citing damage estimates that "just over half of the population of RAAN, living in 49 communities, was affected by the hurricane. While the confirmed death toll stands at 67, and an additional 110 people remain missing. Almost 10,000 houses have been affected, of which almost 8,000 have been completely destroyed. In addition, the storm damaged over 5,000 wells and destroyed almost 6,000 latrines."
A Sept. 13 Bloomberg article quotes a statement from the top UN person in Nicaragua (William Hart) saying that residents of the devastated area "have been left with literally nothing...Everything is destroyed and their lives are in pieces. What we are discovering as we visit these remote areas is a desperate swathe of humanity that has been invisible to the outside world, and which now more than ever needs the help of outsiders.''
I recommed the "interactive web map" of the Nicaraguan Government agency SINAPRED (Sistema Nacional para la Prevención, Mitigación y Atención de Desastres).
Click here for excerpts from an "Engineer Damage Assessment," apparently by US Joint Task Force Bravo, of Tuapi, Krukira, Sandy Bay, Bahurina, and Nina Yari. (On or about Sept. 10.)
The International Herald-Tribune reports that "The Nicaraguan army said Wednesday [Sept. 12] that at least 101 people were killed by Hurricane Felix, after more bodies were pulled from the sea or retrieved from the country's northern jungle."
The Red Cross reports on September 12 that the Nicaraguan government confirms 25,096 families (151,834 people) have been affected. Damage and needs assessments report that Felix’s severe winds and rain destroyed 9,785 houses. There have been 13,500 people evacuated, 65 casualties and still 48 people missing.

CEPAD (Council of Protestant Churches of Nicaragua) had this report on September 10: 67 dead
24,891 families directly affected, comprised of 150,542 persons
84 villages with more than 70% of infrastructure damaged
1,277 persons in 13 shelters. In some shelters there have been outbreaks of meningitis
138 missing persons; 135 rescued alive. Also, I recommend this September 7letter from CEPAD's director with other details.

Krukira damage report from September 10 of the International Federation of Red Cross Societies.

This Nuevo Diario article describes the near-total devasation on the Miskito Keys.

A September 10 Nuevo Diaro article notes that even a week after Felix made landfall exact data and missing people is hard to determine ("each day the Civil Defense gives new numbers"). It reports a logistical problem: "Con toda la ayuda que ha llegado las bodegas ya están llenas debido a que Sinapred no tiene la capacidad para distribuir la ayuda a las comunidades, debido al difícil acceso a las mismas." (My translation: With all the aid that has arrived [in Puerto Cabezas], the warehouses are full because Sinapred does not have the capacity to distribute the aid to outlying communities because it can access them.) "Sinapred" is Nicaragua's disaster agency.

An online El Nuevo Diario article notes that 86 communities around Rosita and 31 around Bonanza, more than 30 thousand people lost their crops, half lost their roofs and more than a thousand families had their homes destroyed.

El Nuevo Diaro reports that 16 people died in Sahsa, many are missing, and Acción Médica Cristiana and a Spanish nonprofit Acción Contra el Hambre are providing services.

USAToday reports on 9/9 that 300 families have been cut off from assistance in the Bonanza region.

The Moravian Church Northern Province website has reports from Bishop Oliver Hodgson and Dr. John Gilliland (who served in Nicaragua and Honduras).

YouTube has this video about Sandy Bay from a Nicaragua television station, and this video about Puerto Cabezas taken on September 5, a story about the search for survivors, and an overview video.

The MiskitoMissions.com website has regular updates from the Palmer family, missionaries based in Puerto Cabezas.

An article on Reliefweb on September 7 notes, "The latest Civil Defence count reported damages to 8,648 homes, 7,995 of which were totally destroyed; 13 public buildings, including schools, health centres and a military post; and 30 private buildings, most of them schools."
Close to 60,000 people are homeless, and 18,477 of them have found refuge in 101 shelters.

NicaNet writes that Rev. Felton Allen, of the Moravian Church of Sandy Bay, traveled to Bilwi to report on 10 communities destroyed by Felix with 16,000 inhabitants left without roofs over their heads and without food or medicine. “Only the concrete posts of the houses are left; the roofs disappeared and the walls fell away as if they had been made of cardboard,” Allen said upon arrival at the offices of the North Atlantic Regional Government in Bilwi.

Summer Palmer, a long-term missionary volunteer with Southern Baptist International Mission Board is quoted in Journal Chretien saying that, "Sinsin, Santa Marta and Twapi are in bad shape" and that "the aftermath of Hurricane Felix will most likely destroy the rice crops in the whole region.”

The same Journal Chretien notes that Norman Bent of the Moravian Church in Managua launched an appeal for help to rebuild or repair up to 200 churches, pastoral residences, high schools, a seminary and a hospital that were damaged by the hurricane.

USAID: Here is a briefing on September 6 by Ky Luu, DirectorOffice of Foreign Disaster Assistance.

UN: The U.N. representative in Nicaragua, Alfredo Missair, said on September 7 that more than 100,000 Nicaraguans were directly affected by the storm and the country will need US$43.5 million in aid over the next six months.

The Canadian Press reports that "Miskito Indians vent anger at Nicaraguan Government in wake of Felix"

Nicaragua’s President, Daniel Ortega, declared the Sandy Bay area, to be the worst hit by the passage of Hurricane Felix on Tuesday, according the International Federation of Red Cross Societies on September 6.

The spokesman for a German nonprofit called Welthungerhilfe says, "It's really, really a disaster. We are speaking about 30 to 40 communities where there's nothing left - no houses, no schools, no churches - nothing," says Schmidt. "There's no wood left - all the rice, trees, yucca - everything's gone," according to a September 7 Reuter new article.