Disaster Response Guatemala Project #34036

Volcano Disaster Long-term Recovery Fund

by CasaSito Association

Project Report | May 15, 2019
A couple of minutes can save lives

By Silke Wahl | Development Consultant

Since the eruption of Guatemala’s volcano ‘Fuego’ on the 3^rd of June 2018, the government, NGO’s and groups of individual volunteers carried out a needs assessment and provided support and guidance to hundreds of families that had been affected by the disaster.

Eruptions can be predicted weeks or even months in advance, thanks to decades of advances in volcanic monitoring. But two circumstances may have created blind spots in forecasting Fuego’s eruption. First, officials had only installed a single rudimentary seismometer compared to those on other volcanoes and second, its constant activity with several large explosions per year and many small eruptions, occurring as often as several times a day.

In an effort to support three communities located in zones surrounding the volcano and to reach a long-term impact, CasaSito Association launched a project that aimed at installing an alarm system in the community of El Rodeo, Santa Rosa and Las Palmas, located in the department of Escuintla.

The three volcano warning systems consist of sirens that will be activated by a selected group of trained residents of the communities when imminent volcanic danger threatens or in case of a possible evacuation. Residents will be advised to evacuate the communities and head to the nearby highway by vehicle or foot. More than 1,500 families residing in the three communities will benefit from this project. Only a couple of minutes sometimes can save lives and reduce damage.

On 28 April 2019, the first two warning systems in the community of Santa Rosa and Las Palmas have been inaugurated. The citizens of both communities expressed their deep gratitude and appreciation, and highlighted that the systems will not only help to alert residents if an eruption is imminent but also help them to sleep again without fear, knowing they will be warned in case of hazards.

The third warning system will be inaugurated on 3 June 2019 in the community of El Rodeo, in commemoration of the eruption one year ago.

CasaSito is convinced that the project is an effective way of helping the families who are still living in these highly risk zones, long-term.

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Feb 25, 2019
Implementation of an Early Warning System

By Silke Wahl | Development Consultant

Since the eruption of Guatemala's volcano 'Fuego' on the 3^rd of June 2018 that affected 1.7 million people, many NGOs and private groups have been formed to offer help to the victims of the eruption. While most of these group' efforts targeted on the current well-being of the victims, the government focused on clearing and fixing the adjoining highway which was continually threatened by rain and volcanic debris, and the construction of the so called ATUs, transitional family housing solutions.

After the eruption, the Guatemalan disaster relief agency CONRED had been heavily criticized for not warning the population despite receiving warnings from the INSIVUMEH (National Institute for Seismology, Vulcanology, Meteorology and Hydrology), but in fact people residing in the communities adjacent to the volcano had been informed to keep away from the affected ravines, warned of the possibility of lahars and asked to leave their homes.

Due to the disordered development of the communities nearby Volcano Fuego, the deficient infrastructure within the villages and due to a lack of risk awareness among the population, there is even more need to help and prepare this vulnerable population for an impending disaster.

Against this background and in an effort to reach a long-term impact in the communities that have been affected by the eruption, CasaSito launched a project that aims at installing an alarm system in three communities located in zones surrounding the Volcano Fuego that have been deemed extremely dangerous.

Thanks to the Guatemalan Lex Leivas and his Irish partner Helena Ni Mhurchu who installed a first alarm system in the community of La Reina, El Rodeo, Escuintla in 2018, it was possible to alert more than 500 families on the 19^th of November 2018 when the community of La Reina was in an eminent danger due to a new eruption. About 4,000 residents from 10 communities fled, when red-hot rock and ash spewed into the sky and cascaded down the slopes toward the area devastated by the eruption in early June.

In cooperation with Lex Leivas, Lic. Suyapa Velásquez and the leaders of the community of El Rodeo, Santa Rosa and Las Palmas, CasaSito will install three alarm systems and train a small group of each community on how to activate the alarms, conduct simulations, behave correctly in case of a possible evacuation, and raise awareness of the risk among the population. More than 1,500 families residing in the three communities will benefit from this project.

CasaSito is convinced that the project is an effective way of assisting the families living in these dangerous zones long-term and helping them to save the life of their families. At the same time, the project will strengthen the organization and collaboration of the participating communities that have only little community organization and institutional support.

Links:

http://www.casasito.org

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Dec 3, 2018
Fuego volcano bursted red-hot lava and ash again on November 19

By Alice Lee | CasaSito Founder

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