Update from Central America after Hurricanes Eta & Iota
In November of last year, back-to-back Hurricanes Eta and Iota devastated communities in Guatemala, Honduras, and on the Colombian islands of San Andrés and Providencia. 98% of the infrastructure on the island of Providencia was destroyed by Category 5 Hurricane Iota, the largest to ever hit the country.
The WCK team activated restaurants on the neighboring island of San Andrés, flying hot meals to Providencia – with the help of the military – for distribution each morning. After six weeks of service, we served more than 237,000 meals to the community.
In Guatemala, members of our Relief Team joined WCK’s local team already on the ground to set up an emergency response less than 48 hours after Hurricane Eta hit. We quickly established a partnership with Misión El Faro to reach communities that were either completely cut off by road or only accessible with large trucks. We continued working with El Faro to deliver food relief to families in Puerto Barrios and Livingston, both by truck and by boat.
In addition to working with El Faro, the WCK team worked with local municipalities and the military to help deliver meals to hard-to-reach communities. As we always do during a disaster, we used any means necessary to reach affected areas — truck, boat, or helicopter.
In total, WCK’s Relief Team served more than 200,000 fresh meals across 56 locations in Morales, Izabal; Puerto Barrios, Izabal; Cobán, Alta Verapaz, and shelters in nearby communities.
Our team prepared fresh meals at Hotel Alcazar Doña Victoria in Cobán while also supporting 15 local restaurant partners throughout the area, who cooked for their neighbors most impacted by the storm.
Following our emergency food relief operations in the department of Alta Verapaz, our Relief Team saw a continued need for support in affected communities, many of which are still dealing with flooding and mud that has now dried as hard as concrete. To meet the needs of these communities, WCK partnered with the World Food Programme (WFP) to distribute large bags of food.
These bags are filled with ingredients to help families prepare meals as they try to get back to a sense of normalcy. In addition to the food, we are distributing recipe cards to share cooking tips for the ingredients included. We are currently entering phase three of the food bag distribution, so follow us on Twitter and Instagram for updates.
