January-February 2008

Hurricane Felix Response

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), "Category 5 Hurricane Felix made landfall at 04:45 a.m. local time on Tuesday, 4 September (2007) at Sand Bay, on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua. The affected areas are in the Northern Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN)." While Mulukuku was not in the direct path of the hurricane's destruction, the entire northern part of the country was drenched with torrential rain.

OCHA reports that more than 100 persons were killed and another 100 missing as the storm came ashore. Nearly 200,000 people were affected by the hurricane. Nineteen thousand houses were damaged or destroyed. More than 11,000 wells were contaminated. Sixty-four thousand acres of croplands were damaged and more than 5,000 livestock were killed.

The MLO Clinic prepared for the crisis by mobilizing staff and resources in case they were needed. Initially, it appeared their efforts would be unnecessary as damage in the immediate area was slight. After a few days, however, survivors of the storm began to filter into Mulukuku with stories of widespread damage, sickness, and injuries.

While the national government was responding, their resources were spread thin and might not get to the remote villages on the Rio Kukalaya from where many of the survivors had come.

The staff of the Maria Luisa Ortiz Women's Center Clinic began immediately to organize a trip into this remote area some 100 kilometers from Mulukuku. Travelling at first by truck, and then by outboard motor powered canoes, clinic staff and their supplies offered the first medical assistance to several communities in this area. See "hurricane felix response" photos. Additional work needs to be done to help these communities begin to rebuild.

Responding to emergencies such as Hurricane Felix are an important facet of the work of the Cooperative. It is also a drain on finances. If you would like to help continue the Cooperative's response to the Rio Kukalya communities please contact us!

Tubal Ligations!

Photographs show a recent delegation in Mulukuku doing tubal ligations. To go to the photographs, click on delegations under photo gallery to the left of the home page!