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Neighbor-to-Neighbor:
FAS Helps After Hurricane
By Jill Lee
The tragedy slammed in hard. By the time the storm ended, 9,000 Central Americans had died and $8.5 billion in infrastructure was gone. Many people were homeless and in need of food aid.
In Honduras, more than 92 bridges were destroyed, and the banana industry, an important cash crop, lost an estimated 90 percent of its plants. In Nicaragua, $170 million in agriculture was gone, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Hurricane Mitch struck in 1998, yet its painful effects linger. FAS and other USDA agencies are still helping in recovery efforts. It was the worst natural disaster in memory to strike the Western Hemisphere, according to the State Department.
The U.S. relief response amounted to $980 million for affected areas in Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is the lead agency for the continuing relief efforts. But because the disaster also disrupted agriculture and basic food security, not to mention trade, USDA is involved as well–thanks in part to USAID funding.
USAID funding to USDA from the supplemental appropriation for Hurricanes Mitch and Georges is $13 million, including $6 million for watershed rehabilitation.
To help with Hurricane Mitch recovery, FAS created a team of experts including USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Together with FAS, they helped the struggling survivors with technical advice and financial assistance as well as that most precious of commodities during disasters–hope.
Finding, Fixing and Preventing Damage
Otto Gonzalez and Scott Lewis, development specialists with FAS, have a hand-written poster in blue, red and green felt-tip marker in their office: "Find the damage, fix the damage, prevent further damage." That pretty much encapsulates their mission.
For over two years now, they have been part of a team put together by FAS’ International Cooperation and Development program area to help in recovery efforts.
An important partner is Manuel Ayala, who is on detail from the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Responding to Communities’ Needs
In January 1999, three months after the disaster, Gonzalez
traveled to Central America with FAS development specialists
Scott Lewis and Sandra Fajemisin to do an initial needs
assessment. The team also included Manuel Rosales, from NRCS, and
Scott Lampman from the Forest Service. Their findings were used
to develop a recovery plan. 
Through ICD, Ayala, a soil conservationist, traveled to the region next to identify immediate threats to public safety. Rafael Salazar and Tom Reinsch, also with NRCS, were also on this team.
They spent time in Posoltega, a once-beautiful region in northwest Nicaragua that’s now scarred by some of the country’s most serious hurricane damage. The region also saw terrible mud flows.
When they first arrived, Ayala discovered that the river channel was completely filled with sediment, putting the town at risk for further floods. They made some technical recommendations for the town’s safety.
Later, an NRCS team consisting of conservationists Carlos Suarez and Al Cerna returned for a follow-up visit and found the town was building a dike as a preventive measure. They noticed it had been armored to prevent washout in a manner that would force the river at crest to surge around the structure, deluging the town.
Suarez and Ildefonso Chavez, a civil engineer with NRCS, worked for months with the people of Posoltega to re-design the dike safely. These two experts are now assigned to Nicaragua full-time for watershed recovery.
"FAS’ role is to be a facilitator; we provide USDA expertise to USAID, so the recovery work moves forward," said Gonzalez. "Many NRCS engineers and soil conservationists were even able to write their damage assessments in Spanish for the communities. We feel great when we can make these connections."
Finding Creative Solutions
It takes money to make relief efforts successful, and FAS allocated $92,700 to help rebuild 206 homes in three communities in the Humuya watershed of Honduras.
FAS also purchased two block machines for $32,000 which can be used to make earthen blocks needed to build new homes. Proyecto Aldea Global, a Honduran Non-Governmental Organization, will transport the machine around the region, so many communities will have a chance to build new homes.
Recovery
That Works With Nature
Erosion control in the wake of the hurricane is a big concern, Gonzalez explained.
"After a severe storm like Mitch, it doesn’t take another hurricane to cause a lot of damage," he said. "Because many stream channels are clogged with sediment or debris, even regular storms can cause a lot more flooding and erosion as well as mud slides. Often, you can’t correct what has happened, so you have to adapt to it and work to prevent further damage."
This changed watershed has a big impact on agriculture as well.
"It’s sad. Some folks are going to have to find a different way to make a living. Their land just isn’t restorable," said Ayala. "Others will have to adapt to changes in the watershed. We advise some farmers to consider putting flood-prone land in permanent pasture."
In other cases, the farmers are being encouraged to plant trees so that there is a forest buffer between their land and the river. This reduces chemical run-off and protects the soil.
Gonzalez said there are many other ways farmers can protect the environment and help themselves. One project, a cooperative effort with NGOs such as Fundacion Banhcafe, which supports small-scale coffee growers, and Proyecto Aldea Global, involves planting shade coffee trees.
"Not only does shade-grown coffee cause less pollution, it also shields the soil from pelting rain, and its roots hold the earth fast against erosion," said Gonzalez. "We are also helping them find ways of processing the coffee so that it has less impact on water quality."
Gonzalez added that there will even be money to install stoves that use less wood.
"We’d like to encourage people to cut down fewer
trees, reduce deforestation and protect their soil," he
said. 
Food Aid and More
Through the 416 (b) program, the USDA donates surplus U.S. commodities, such as grains, which are sold at a competitive world market price, usually at an auction. Proceeds from the sales can be used for humanitarian, agricultural or marketing infrastructure or related projects.
The Food for Progress and 416 (b) programs also provided funding in for emergency construction–such as the Posoltega dike upgrade--and for farmland rehabilitation.
One goal of 416 (b) is to use surplus U.S. commodities for relief in countries affected by hurricanes, drought or economic crisis. It does this by working through foreign governments and U.S. charities.
"We donated 170,000 metric tons of wheat and 50,000 metric tons of corn to Central America through 416 (b)," said economist Ann Murphy. "Proceeds from the sale of these commodities were used for relief efforts.
"We also provided $13.5 million in direct food donations to Nicaragua and Honduras under our Food for Progress Program. In addition, we made $20 million in low-cost loans for food to Guatemala and El Salvador under PL 480 Title I program."
The PL 480 program provides long-term loans for food, while Food for Progress and the 416 (b) programs are donations. The donated food can be given to the hungry or sold by the recipient government or relief organization.
FAS Nicaragua Does Its Part
Gonzalez was grateful for the work done by Chuck Bertsch, FAS’ agricultural attache in Costa Rica. Bertsch, who also covers Nicaragua and Panama, came forward with interim funding right after the hurricane, so work could begin quickly.
"As an emergency appropriation request was still moving through Congress, Chuck found some money in the Section 416 (b) food aid program for on-the-spot help."
Satellite Technology Helps
In addition to food and funding, technology was a big part of the relief effort. One example is LANDSAT, which uses satellite imagery and computers to assess agricultural damage after a natural disaster.
"We can spot the most likely places for landslides to occur, and feed that information back to Otto and Manuel in the field,"said Robert Tetrault with FAS’ production estimates and crop assessment division (PECAD).
"Then, they can show people in Nicaragua or Honduras what’s going on and suggest ways to address the problem. This can be especially important in hard-to-reach areas or remote places where dangers might otherwise go undetected."
Melvin Tucker, a soil scientist with PECAD, analyzes satellite
data that arrives on a CD-ROM from the U.S. Geological Survey. He
bases his analysis of soil and land health, in part, on what
Gonzalez, Ayala and others report from the field. The disaster
was apparent even when reviewed from a thousand miles away as
computerized graphics. 
Creating New USDA Partnerships
Are there long-term prospects for improving watersheds in Central America? "Absolutely," says Scott Lewis, who works with Gonzalez. He’s excited about a new partnership between an environmental group in Guatemala and USDA’s Forest Service in Puerto Rico.
"The Forest Service in Puerto Rico faces similar issues of storm damage and watershed rehabilitation," he said. "We linked them up with two people from Guatemala’s Protectors of Nature Foundation. They spent a week in Puerto Rico studying Forest Service methods for dealing with landslides, and receiving training at the Forest Service’s Caribbean National Forest and International Institute for Tropical Forestry."
Now, some of the Forest Service personnel from Puerto Rico are going to Guatemala to provide technical assistance. It’s a profitable exchange in that both groups deal with the same kind of ecologies."
A Working Partnership
FAS crop management specialist Ronald White recently returned from Nicaragua where he reviewed PECAD information with rural communities and helped them devise long-term strategies for farming in this changed ecology.
"We want to help people find habits and skills to cope with nature. We have to present our information in a way that will make sense to them and work within their farming culture."
"That’s one of the reasons we try to work with local volunteer, private and non- governmental organizations that have a great deal of experience in extension and outreach with local growers and their communities," said Howard Anderson, director of the development resource division.
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The author is a public affairs specialist with the FAS Information Division, USDA, Washington, D.C. Tel.: (202) 720-7939; Fax: (202) 720-1727; e-mail: leejill@fas.usda.gov
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