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In Pictures: Hondurans show resilience, solidarity after storms

More than four million people in Honduras were affected by the tropical storms that triggered mass floods and landslides.

Many streets in La Lima, Honduras, still bear witness to the disaster brought on by the Eta and Iota storms that struck the region in November, 2020 [Christian Jepsen/NRC]
By Christian Jepsen
Published On 11 Jan 2021

More than a month after two hurricanes wreaked havoc in Honduras, hundreds of thousands of people displaced by mass flooding and mudslides are still struggling to cope, surviving with little to no outside assistance.

But residents say a strong sense of solidarity is one of the few things keeping the displaced families – now living in makeshift campsites and overcrowded communal shelters – going.

Communities banded together to get through Eta and Iota, which struck Central America in November, and now they are attempting to clean damaged homes.

A few kilometres outside the city of La Lima – one of the worst-affected areas in Honduras – 25-year-old Fredy Alexis Morataya Vasquez said he did not think he would survive the dramatic floods that almost submerged his village.

“I didn’t think we would survive, but the most beautiful experience during this was that our community supported itself – we rescued each other,” Morataya Vasquez said.

“Thank God we have warriors that saved lives. We are surviving because we are together and help each other. This moment is not for fighting each other, but to unite more.”

The storms exacerbated an existing humanitarian crisis in the region.

In April 2020, the United Nations reported that 5.2 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala due to years of chronic and extreme violence, displacement, food insecurity and the adverse effects of climate change.

COVID-19 lockdowns have since paralysed local economies and health systems across Central America, and new caravans of migrants heading for North America are being organised on social media as many people see no other option than to flee.

The UN estimated in mid-December that in Honduras alone, more than 85,000 houses were damaged and 6,000 were completely destroyed as a result of the storms.

Displaced families are camping next to the highway between San Pedro Sula and La Lima. To the right, many of their homes and fields remain flooded several weeks after the storms. [Christian Jepsen/NRC]
'We were a group of eight that stayed on the top of a roof for three days, including two small children, aged two and six. We had no water or anything else for three days,' said 25-year-old Fredy Alexis Morataya Vasquez. [Christian Jepsen/NRC]
The family that owns this house is not expecting it to be suitable to live in again after floods of smelly and sticky mud covered everything for days. [Christian Jepsen/NRC]
'The [flood] water went as high as one metre (three feet) above the roof of my house. We went to our neighbourhood’s community centre, where we did not expect the flooding to reach us. But at 5am the water came, so we had to leave that place also,' said 70-year-old Obdulio. [Christian Jepsen/NRC]
Alta Gracia Sanchez school in San Pedro Sula has been transformed into a shelter for almost 300 people affected by the floods that followed storms Eta and Iota. In Honduras, 95,000 people are currently sheltered in schools and community centres. [Christian Jepsen/NRC]
The communal shelters in schools are often overcrowded. As many as 15 people sleep in each classroom without safe distancing to prevent the potential spread of COVID-19. [Christian Jepsen/NRC]
Two men having a quiet discussion in Alta Gracia Sanchez School, where they now live after their homes were flooded during tropical storms Eta and Iota. [Christian Jepsen/NRC]
Humanitarian agencies distribute hygiene kits with protective masks and sanitisers to displaced families living at the communal shelters that have been established after storms Eta and Iota. [Christian Jepsen/NRC]
A family is going through handwashing procedures to counter the potential spread of COVID-19 in the school they are staying in, after flooding ruined their house. Aid agencies are also setting up partitions to try to lower the risk of COVID-19 in classrooms shared by several families. [Christian Jepsen/NRC]
After the floods, displaced families have constructed makeshift shelters of plastic, rope and sticks along the highway between San Pedro and La Lima. [Christian Jepsen/NRC]
'The noise from the passing cars is constant. At first, we couldn't sleep, but we have gotten used to the noise,' said 18-year-old Dina Ester Corea Lopez, who stays in her small tent with her 18-month-old daughter, Alexandra. [Christian Jepsen/NRC]
After the tropical storms destroyed his home, Marlon, 31, now lives with his wife and daughter in a makeshift shelter next to a fuel station. [Christian Jepsen/NRC]
In many locations, families are working together to clean their houses one by one. [Christian Jepsen/NRC]
Many of the streets in the city of La Lima were still not cleared more than a month after the tropical storms struck Honduras. [Christian Jepsen/NRC]
A car turned over by mudslides in Cruz de Valencia village, where residents say many people were swept away by the floodwaters and had to grab trees to rescue themselves from drowning. [Christian Jepsen/NRC]