News for the Week of November 2, 1998

November 2, 1998

Hurricane Mitch Relief

Over the weekend, Hurricane Mitch took a devastating route through Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala. Although large parts of Honduras and Nicaragua remain inaccessible, MSF is actively assisting victims of Hurricane Mitch in Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala, and carrying out additional assessments of humanitarian needs in the region.

In addition to distributing drugs, medical supplies, and fresh drinking water, in Nicaragua, MSF is supplying emergency shelter materials, including plastic sheeting, to displaced people. Three tons of MSF emergency medical supplies arrived in Managua on Saturday morning and are being distributed - these were the first relief supplies to reach the country following the hurricane. Additional supplies are en route. Currently, 12 MSF medical volunteers are working on the hurricane relief effort in Nicaragua, with more on the way.

In Honduras, MSF is also distributing drugs, medicines and clean water. We are actively attempting to reach the hardest hit coastal regions of the country that have been cut off by destroyed roads and bridges. Twelve MSF volunteers are currently working on the relief effort in Honduras and additional staff will be sent in the coming days. In the capital city of Tegucigalpa, MSF is preparing an emergency water and sanitation intervention.

In Guatemala, ten MSF volunteers are assessing the emergency needs of the displaced population and distributing medicines and drinking water.

MSF is also monitoring the situation in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Belize, and Mexico.

New Phase in Aid for Flood Victims in China

An MSF mobile team is assessing the needs of victims of the recent floods in Hubei and Hunan provinces. The water has now receded, but in Hunan province alone, half a million Chinese are still living on embankments because their homes were destroyed by the flooding. The Chinese authorities plan to find accommodations for these people, but this is not expected to be done before April 1999. Sharp rises in respitarory infections have already been reported. The mobile MSF team, consisting of a physician, a nurse, and a water and sanitation expert, will investigate medical and sanitation conditions, as well as the distribution of food supplies for the homeless population in order to ascertain needs for the upcoming winter.

Southern Sudan Famine Relief Update

MSF is currently operating 13 supplementary feeding centers and 10 therapeutic feeding centers serving a total of 9,474 beneficiaires in Bahr el Ghazal province, the hardest-hit region of the famine.

Tags: Natural Disasters, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, China

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