Say a prayer for Central America…
6th September 2007
I completely missed the news earlier this week about Hurricane Felix making landfall as a Category 5 hurricane on the east coast of Nicaragua, in Puerto Cabezas. Yes, it’s a long way from where I spent more than 2 years living and working, but my heart will always be burdened for Nicaragua and Central America. We all remember what damage Hurricane Katrina left as a Category 5 storm 2 years ago here in the US, and I can’t imagine winds of 160 miles an hour battering the tiny wood and tin shacks that many people call home down there.
Here’s ABC News’ most recent update, and a few quotes that hit me…
| "Felix swept over the Miskito Coast, an impoverished region where about 150,000 people live in jungle settlements. Their hamlets of wooden shacks and coconut groves are remote even in good weather, reachable only by air or flat-bottom boats." **(I think "impoverished region" is a relative term when, by American standards, the entire country of Nicaragua would be considered impoverished. This really means, "the poorest of the poor".) "Many had feared a repeat of the 1998 nightmare of Hurricane Mitch, which stalled over Central America for days, causing floods and mudslides that killed nearly 11,000 people and left more than 8,000 missing." |
San Pedro Sula, Honduras is also recovering from the torrential rains, and it has been a "home port" for Mercy Ships for a long time. Please keep the people of Central America in your prayers as they recover from the storm.
Leave a Reply