Helping Rural Communities in Nicaragua to Flourish

A few weeks ago Nicaragua was hit directly by Hurricane Julia. CEPAD has been urgently responding to the damage in the communities they work in, including Teustepe, the region where we support their community development work with seven communities. Teustepe was in the direct line of the hurricane as it passed over from the Atlantic to the Pacific, dumping months worth of rainfall in just a few hours. Several rivers burst their banks and for villages like Barranco Alto, which is situated in the bend of a river, it was an extremely perilous situation. Dozens of families were evacuated as a precaution, and many are still staying in temporary shelters. 480 families in Teustepe and Matagalpa regions were unable to return to their villages because the river levels were too high. Thankfully the death toll from Hurricane Julia appears to be low, but homes and crops across the country have been destroyed.

Landslides have hit five of the seven communities CEPAD is working in in Teustepe. Farmers have lost between 70 and 90 percent of their crops. This is particularly devastating as this year was looking to be a promising harvest after two consecutive years of failed rains. The ‘postrera’ harvest (a crucial second harvest of the year) is not going to be possible in almost any of the communities in Teustepe.

In a number of villages, wells were destroyed; in El Bramadero, every single family (112 families) was left with no access to safe drinking water. Latrines were flooded, contaminating the water supply, and families are suffering with the effects of this: diarrhoea, vomiting and stomach pains are a problem.

CEPAD has been assessing the needs of families and communities in Teustepe. The Community Development Committee in each village (the committee of leaders elected by their community) is supporting families who have been displaced by the flooding or who’ve experienced damage to their homes, and are coordinating the response to make sure the families most in need receive support.

They are also providing emergency food packages to families, water purifying filters, sheets of zinc metal to be able to rebuild roofs which were destroyed. They are supporting communities to rebuild destroyed wells, and training more community leaders in first aid responses for future disasters. 

Unfortunately, emergencies like this are not as rare as they used to be. The world is seeing increasingly severe storms such as Hurricane Julia, as climate change worsens and continues to most impact those who have contributed least to the crisis. This year the first tropical storm hit Nicaragua in July, far earlier than normal.

Thank you for your ongoing support of our work with CEPAD in Nicaragua. Any further support will be so welcome at this time, as Nicaraguan communities face increasing uncertainty in the face of climate change.