Damage Assessment - Presbyterian "Bridges" Program

I found the following post helpful. For more details check out Hudson Happenings blog and click this link: Follow-up on Hurricane Felix.

Damage Assessment

The hardest hit areas are the communities between Puerto Cabezas and Waspam (Northeast Atlantic Coast, where the majority of the population is indigenous Moskito). As these communities are spread out and not easy to reach, the assessment of the damage keeps changing...meaning, the death toll keeps rising...as does the number of houses destroyed.
The greatest needs in these communities are: food, water, medical attention, psychological attention, and basic shelter. According to reports from Puerto, the World Food Program stated that the biggest need in this region is for food. Puerto and the neighboring communities will need to have food supplied to them for at least six months. Why?

• all crops were destroyed
• all food supplies on hand (such as a month's worth of beans and rice that a family -in a community would have) were all destroyed.
• the greatest sources of income other than crops is fishing.
  

It is being estimated by local environmental groups that the hurricane has effectively driven away the fish and lobsters and that it may take 1 to 2 years for the fishing industry to recover.