ACF Mobilizes for Post-Felix Evaluation in Central America

Hurricane Félix Reaches Nicaragua and Honduras Madrid, Spain — According to the organization’s Emergency Observatory, the unexpected change in the path of the hurricane in Nicaragua could have severe consequences for the people who did not have time to prepare for the force of the impact.

“We still do not know the spread of the impact in Nicaragua although we know that it will be an emergency. We have evacuated our team in the region of Somoto and we are doing the first evaluation of the damage,” explains Mayte Martín Serra, manager of Action Against Hunger’s mission for Central America.

Action Against Hunger / Action Contre la Faim (ACF) depends on the Emergency Observatory in Central America, an early alert system that emits daily reports of hurricane advances, a tool that allows the mission to prepare a contingency and to mobilize a rapid and effective team. According to the last received report, severe consequences are anticipated in the RAAN (Autonomous North Atlantic Region) in Nicaragua, making the population of this zone highly vulnerable, particularly the indigenous Miskitos.

The organization mobilized its team in the zone to evaluate the damage in Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala. In Puerto Cabezas, in Nicaragua, “the warehouse prepared for the World Food Program has suffered severe damage; we do not know if we can make use of that food. The airport antenna has collapsed and many of the hospitals have been flooded or destroyed,” says Mayte.

For this first mobilization, the organization utilized funds from the Spanish Agency of International Cooperation. It will finish evaluating the damage caused in Nicaragua and Honduras and will define the type of intervention necessary to assure that basic necessities for the most vulnerable remain covered. Action Against Hunger has worked in Central America since 1996, on projects related to nutrition, food security, water and clean-up, and disaster prevention.

About Action Against Hunger

Action Against Hunger / Action Contre la Faim (ACF), an international relief and development organization committed to saving the lives of malnourished children and families, provides sustainable access to safe water and long-term solutions to hunger. For nearly three decades, ACF has pursued its vision of a world without hunger by combating hunger in emergency situations of conflict, natural disaster, and chronic food insecurity.

Press Contact

Action Against Hunger - USA

James L. Phelan
Senior External Relations Officer, ACF-USA
Contact James Phelan
Direct: 212-967-7800 x108
Cell: 646-265-7796

Action Against Hunger - Spain

Alejandra Mahiques Nuñez
Prensa y Comunicación Institucional, ACF-Spain
amahiques@achesp.org
Direct: +34 91 391 53 06