Update From La Mosquitia November 8th:

The first relief shipment made it into Las Marias, Rio Platano by helicopter! Keep up the good work, this is only a minute portion and just the beginning of what is needed. Doctors and medicines are making it into Wampusirpi from Ahuas flown in by pilot Jorge of Alas de Socorro. No food supplies making it into Wampusirpi area at this time. Situation is desperate.

Update From La Mosquitia November 9th, 10th, 11th:

Apparently, a single relief food shipment by a German group arrived in Wampusirpi 2-days ago which amounts to 12 ozs per man, women and child. One meal. WE NEED MORE RELIEF FAST! Please send your donations to the Mosquitia Campaign now!

Update From La Mosquitia November 12th:

Through the tremendous generosity of GTZ, the German forestry management group, an Islena Airlines aircraft was leased for a one-time shipment of 3500 lbs of relief materials into Wampusirpi. In addition, an aid shipment was made to Belen, on the coast. The cost of this aircraft lease was approximately $3000.00 US dollars. The same Islena aircraft had to return to San Pedro Sula for needed repairs. This is an appeal to Arturo Alverado, of Islena Airlines: please provide us with a price break on subsequent flights into the Mosquitia with relief goods. And we thank Islena for providing this unscheduled delivery. We need many more flights into Wampusirpi with aid! This hardly scratches the surface, we urge all to donate cash to Mosquitia Campaign NOW. Still, absolutely no news on the Rio Coco area. Info we've received seems to indicate that British Forces are aiding in Bluefields and Puerto Cabezas. But, no solid confirmations as yet.

Update From La Mosquitia November 13th to 16th:

Subject: Re: MOSQUITIA EMAIL WORKING GROUP
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1998 13:10:35 -0600 (CST)
From: Paul House
UPDATE ON THE MOSQUITIA AFTER MITCH

It has been clear for two weeks that the entire Mosquitia has suffered the worst flooding in living memory, yet we still have very little information from the field. Recently released figures from the Government suggests that The Mosquitia has 35,000 people who are at this moment, without any obvious means of feeding themselves. Estimates of crop loss range from 90 to a 100 %. The Mosquitia has no food reserves of its own and these people will need to be fed for at least 4 to 6 months from outside of the region.

It is not easy to calculate the amount of food needed, but the calculation by MOPAWI and The FITH, suggest that it takes 4 tons of food to feed 1000 people for 10 days. Over 400 tons of food a month to supply the entire Mosquitia.

The situation in the Mosquitia at this moment is that there remians no obvious means of getting the food out to the communities were it is needed. Even though a number of airstrips are open only two are capable of handling large amounts of Aid. Puerto Lempira and Mocoron, both capable of landing planes with 20,000 pounds or more of cargo. The strips at Palacios and Ahuas can handle some 5,000 pounds. Wampusirpi's large strip can at this moment only handle 3.500 pounds. Food aid has gone into to all these strips but at this moment there is a serious shortage of gasoline in the area so very little has got out to the comunities.

La Mosquitia is broken down into 6 local areas, Puerto Lempira, Ahuas, J.F.Bulnes (Palacios, Batalla) V. Morales (Zona Recuperada), Wampusirpi, and Brus Laguna. All of these areas except for the zona recuperada have there own strips. The main means of transport within all these areas is by boat. Helicopters of course can get into most areas, very little aid is arriving that way.

The traditional way of getting food into the Mosquitia is by ship, Matra the cargo ship based in Puerto Cortes is meant to leave tomorrow satarday for the Mosquitia (this ship is on its way now) it can handle several hundred tons of cargo and will be shipping in Gasoline. It will be docking on the Barra Patuca and unloading food aid for the the River Patuca both the Ahus and Wampusirpi areas. As well as aid for the Palcios Platano area. This aid will then be sent up river by boat.

Three plane loads of food aid has already arrived by plane into Wampusirpi, each plane carried in about 3,000 pounds of aid so we know some 12 pounds of aid has got into Wampusirpi. These filghts were comercial flights by Islena payed for by German aid money and coordinated by the Asociacion Asang Launa (FITH). But that aid has not left Wampusirpi becuase of the lack of gasoline.

The news from the Wampusirpi area is that there are some 1,986 homeless, and that almost the entire population some 4,812 people have lost the ability to feed themselves. Crop loss in the area would appaer to be almost 100 % with the Banana and Rice lost, as well as all of there main cash crop Cacao. Most comunnities are reporting a number of houses destroyed, but some such as Pimienta, Kurpa, Yapuwas and others are reporting extensive damge effecting almost all the community.

The worst effected region would appaer to be the Segovia area and in particular the zona recuperada, which is also the hardest area to reach, there are reports that the comunities of Auka and Lisamnipura are still cut off with no food, and some 1200 people are in need of rescue.

The problem at the moment for the entire Mosquitia is (a), getting in the hundred of tons of food aid that will be needed to feed the people. and (b), getting that food away from the airstrips and into the widely spaced communities along the rivers and water ways. This needs to be done to avoid the movement of large nummbers of people to the areas were the food aid is concentrated, if this happens the planting season that starts in December will be lost and these people will be relying on food aid for the next year.

Talking with various Tawahka, it would appaer that as the river has brought fresh fertile soil, the Tawahka are planing to sow not only rice and maiz the traditional dry season crops but also rice, the main seed sown crop. Dry season rice is a risk but one worth taking considering the circumstances. The Tawahka like the Misquitos have very little seed, each family would need about 50 pounds of beans 30 of maiz and 100 of rice, by by the end of December.

Considering the large number of traditional varieties, the introduction of seed from outside will cause a serious erosion of gentic resources in the area. It remains favourable that the seed is found form the most local source possible. Once food aid reaches these areas, it might be worth trying to pool what little native seed remains for collective sowing of traditional varieties.

ACTIVITIES SO FAR

There have been some initial assessments of damage to communities and attendant crop losses by Dutch military overflying the areas by helicopter. However it is understandably difficult to assess damage in flooded areas. There is an urgent need for further detailed air and ground assessments of the true extent of the human and physical losses. These assessments should be coordinated with full use of local informants, and must be carried out in close collaboration with local organisations.

Once concluded these assessments would probably reveal far higher losses, and attendant serious medium term risks to human welfare, than is presently thought to be the case, both by the Honduran government and the diplomatic community.

It is not easy to calculate the amount of food needed, but calculations by MOPAWI and FITH (two important NGOs working in the area), suggest that it takes 4 tons of food to feed 1000 people for 10 days. So over 400 tons of food will be needed per month to supply the affected population. This amount far exceeds the logistical and funding capacity of the NGOs working in the affected areas, implying a need by outside agencies, especially the Honduran Government, to substantially contribute to the relief effort.

The situation in the Mosquitia is compounded by the fact that there remains no obvious means of getting the food out to the communities were it is needed. Even though a number of airstrips are open, only two are capable of handling large amounts of aid. These are Puerto Lempira and Mocoron, both capable of landing planes with 20,000 pounds or more of cargo. The strips at Palacios and Ahuas can each handle some 5,000 pounds. Wampusirpi's large strip can at this moment only handle 3,500 pounds.

Some very limited NGO and Honduran Government food aid landed at all these strips, but there is a serious shortage of gasoline for transport up-river within the area, so very little of the supplies that have landed has got out to the communities. The lack of fuel is at the moment the greatest impediment to supplies reaching the communities.

Some medical supplies have been moved into the area by brigades of Cuban medical staff that have flown to the majority of larger communities in coordination with Alas de Soccoro, thus covering the most immediate medical needs. However, in the longer term substantial investments will be needed to establish and maintain medical centres to meet the continuing needs of the population.

In summary the main problems in the Mosquitia are:

(i) The need for a thorough assessment of conditions in the area;
(ii) The logistics of getting in the hundred of tons of food aid required;
(iii) Transport of supplies away from the airstrips and coastal ports, into the widely-spaced communities along the rivers and waterways;
(iv) Temporary shelter and medical assistance to large numbers of displaced families who have gravitated to the 6 larger settlements served by airstrips. If the sowing season is missed in December, then there is a risk of the majority of the 35,000 displaced people settling around the larger towns and requiring more permanent accommodation; there would then also be a high risk of disease;
(v) Supplies of gasoline into the area need far more emphasis, to ensure that food aid is distributed and to avoid stocks of supplies accumulating in the larger towns.

MOPAWI are trying to get some US$500,000 dollars of emergency aid for the Mosquitia. It considers the 'zona recuperada' as the main priority at this moment and the River Patuca as the next priority. It would appear that this is going to be a long haul. MOPAWI and FITH will require continuing funds to purchase gasoline and food supplies on a sustained basis.

I would certainly consider that outboard motors and gasoline are at this moment as important as food. Both MOPAWI and the FITH are short of both. A 40-hp outboard at this moment costs around 24,000 Lps (around 2000 US dollars). Both MOPAWI and the Associacion Asang Launa are doing a good job here: they need your support.

Please note their email addresses if you are able to co-ordinate sending funds directly to these organisations (FITH tawahka@sdnhon.org.hn Apartado 4245, Tegucigalpa; MOPAWI: agencia@mopawi.sdnhon.org.hn tel (504) 237-7210 fax (504) 237-2864 Box No 2175, Tegucigalpa).

I plan to organise a trip to assess damage and needs, if I can arrange logistics and funding to travel with the Tawahka organisation FITH. Please co-ordinate with me if you are able to offer funds or other support.

Paul House Ph.D. (Ethnobotany of the Tawahka Indians)

National University Of Honduras

Dr Paul House: Tegucigalpa Tel (504) 235-9910.
Email: prhouse@lenz.unah.hondunet.net
Raquel Isaula Peralta
Coordinadora Nacional
Programa Red de Desarrollo Sostenible - Honduras
Tel. (504) 220-1115, 220-1116
Fax. (504) 220-1117
E-mail: raquel@sdnhon.org.hn
Programa Red de Desarrollo Web

Update From La Mosquitia November 17th to 20th:

This Update Provided By Kendra McSweeney of The Mosqutia Campaign: Edgardo Benitez and the Association Asang Launa [tel. (504) 237-7210] have gotten in several flights to Wampusirpi, mainly funded by the German group GTZ. Edgardo has now established a year-long preferential treatment arrangement with MATRA out of Puerto Cortes. Though sending shipments by boat is obviously slower, he assures us that this link is ultimately more sustainable and secure in the long term. His major concern with the Municipio of Wampusirpi is that the area could be flooded by aid now and receive nothing over the next 6 months, when the need will likely be just as great if not greater. To ship things with MATRA, we need to send them to San Pedro Sula rather than Teguc. We're working on the logistics here. But basically we'll do everything we can to send goods to SPS rather than Teguc to minimize difficulties for the recipients down there. Apparently the reception of goods in Teguc is a real nightmare.

Update in Spanish From La Mosquitia November 21st to December 10th:

We have received this communique from Edgardo Benitez of FITH via Monte Aguire from International Rivers Network; an update on damages from the Patuca region and the Brus Laguna region

Update by Moravian Church: La Mosquitia Aid Efforts December 11th:

Subject: La Mosquitia relief
Date: Thu, 10 Dec 1998 17:43:38 -0600
From: Steve Rice
To: derekp@generation.net
CC: wpost@hondutel.hn

Derek and Warren,

I have been lurking and reading. I have a contact that has some things going on via the Moravian Church system. I forwarded your posting and got the following back. I will be posting this

Dear Steve,

Thanks for sending me the bulletin board appeal.

I don't know of anyone who has the big picture in La Mosquitia. I have appealed, thus far in vain, for sufficient information to know exactly what is going on in La Mosquitia and by whom. What I know with a small degree of certainty thus far is this:

1. CCD (a collaboration of church groups) has, I believe, an ongoing commitment to a portion of the Patuka River valley. Early on, I learned that they were targeting only "Barra Patuka" and I have no information to suggest they have changed that. CCD did arrange for a 20-day supply of food to be delivered to Ahuas about two weeks ago.

2. My agency, the Board of World Mission, arranged for the purchase of food in La Ceiba three weeks ago that was shipped out to Puerto Lempira for distribution. I've had no report on that distribution--to whom,where, etc. The amount was not large, about 10,000 pounds.

3. Our Moravian contact/agent in La Ceiba, Maurice Owen Tom, has been authorized to purchase on a daily basis any amounts of basic grains available, to be consolidated and shipped out to La Mosquitia. I assume these purchases will go to Puerto Lempira for distribution from there.

4. On or about December 25, a Board of World Mission shipment of rice (80,000 pounds) is due to arrive in Puerto Cortez for inland trucking to La Ceiba where Mr. Tom will warehouse it for distribution to La Mosquitia.

5. Mission Aviation Fellowship has made a commitment to provide air service within La Mosquitia for the distribution of food supplies to remote villages. They are repairing an airplane already based in Ahus and have sent a larger one into Honduras that can carry about 5,000 pounds.

The Board of World Mission has received financial gifts from a number of non-Moravian sources because of our commitment to an ongoing effort in La Mosquitia.

For two days I have anticipated a telephone conversation with Wincap Cassy, the chairman of the Moravian Church in Honduras to ascertain the church's plan of action and to work out a means for us to cooperate.

I cannot offer a "budget" at this point to anyone. I can assure any donor that a gift designated to assist the people of La Mosquitia will be used in that area and not be limited to Moravians.

At this point, and without the colloboration of the Moravian Church, MOPAWI or another organization in La Mosquitia, the Board of World Mission anticipates making twice monthly shipments of basic grains to Honduras for the foreseeable future, as well as other recovery materials and supplies--seeds, tools, building materials, nails, etc.

I hope that this is helpful and would appreciate if you might forward for me.

E. Hampton Morgan Jr.
Board of World Mission of the Moravian Church
PO Box 1245
(1021 Center Street)
Bethlehem PA 18018
Office Phone: 610.868.1732
Office Fax: 610.866.9223