OBI is providing medical aid, food and other relief supplies to victims of Hurricane Felix.

PUERTO CABEZAS, Nicaragua – As the death toll nears 100 in the wake of Hurricane Felix, rescue workers and government officials are working to bring relief to the wounded and displaced people.

"Runoff from Felix’s torrential rains in mountain areas has drained to already-swollen rivers and is causing flooding in valleys," said OBI’s Scott Hill, who has been on the ground helping to coordinate relief efforts. "That's a big concern."

Road conditions have worsened due to flooding, so little aid is getting through to the people who need it.

Hurricane Felix slammed the coastal regions of Nicaragua as a Category 5 storm earlier this week. Tidal surges and heavy rains drenched the area. Government officials report more than 30,000 Miskito Indians have already been displaced and some 70,000 Hondurans were evacuated to shelters.

Many homes suffered roof damage from wind gusts up to 160 miles per hour.

OBI is working with the Minister of Health and the Honduran First Lady as well as El Shaddai, a local non-profit, to obtain a list of critically-needed medications. In addition, OBI is working to provide bed nets to shield off diseases carried by mosquitoes.

Other aid needs include food, clothes, blankets and water. 

OBI is focusing on providing relief by air and working with long-time partner Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) to bring aircraft in from the U.S. and surrounding countries. Aircraft will be used to transport personnel and emergency relief supplies to victims.

In addition to the initial impact of the hurricane, floodwaters have spilled into more then 5,000 wells causing health concerns such as respiratory infections, diarrhea, skin and eye infections, dengue and malaria.

Thousands of homes have been destroyed and several orphanages have suffered severe damage. One orphanage in particular in Puerto Cabezas lost the roofs from all five of its buildings.

"The orphans are really suffering," Hill said.

Hospitals are reaching capacity, with 93 patients arriving yesterday at a hospital in Puerto Cabezas where the bed capacity is only 100.

Felix is the second Category 5 storm of the 2007 season. Hurricane Dean, which slammed Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula as a Category 5 on Aug. 20, killed 27 people in the Caribbean and Mexico.

OBI responded to Dean by distributing thousands of roof panels to help residents in Chetumal, Mexico, repair damaged homes. Teams also gave out relief kits containing items such as oil, sugar, beans, rice, noodles and hygiene items and set up feeding tents in flooded regions of Tulancingo, Mexico, that served an average of 500 hot meals a day to flood victims.

AP contributed to this report.

HOW YOU CAN HELP
You can help by making an online donation toward OBI's disaster relief efforts. With your support, we can continue to provide emergency relief and recovery. Please make an on-line donation today.

 

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