An estimated 9.2 million people (including 3.5 million children) have been affected by heavy rainfall, life-threatening flash flooding and landslides caused by Hurricanes Eta and Iota in Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. Other areas in Mexico and Colombia have been also impacted. Over 160,000 people have been displaced and hosted in shelters, including 64,000 children , and need access to protection, food, health, nutrition, water, sanitation and basic services. In some affected communities, access to basic services was already limited and is now worsened by the effects of the Hurricanes; restoration of basic services in such places is now urgent .
Thousands of families have lost their homes and livelihoods, many already been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. At least 3.4 million people need urgent support, including 1.3 million children in the most affected communities in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. These estimations are expected to increase considering that Iota compounded the effects of Eta, expanding the areas of need. With high numbers of people in shelters, there is increased COVID-19 infection and protection risks, especially for girls . Eta and Iota are affecting children and families already devastated by the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic: school closures, loss of jobs, declining migrant remittances, rising violence against children and women, and disruptions in access to water and sanitation and to key health services, including vaccinations for young children.
Prior to COVID-19, at least 5.2 million people in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras were already facing significant humanitarian needs related to migration flows, violence, internal displacement, food insecurity and poverty . Among affected areas, there are remote indigenous communities where access and language barriers challenge relief efforts. A potential surge in population movements, including internal displacement and cross-border migration, could further compound the situation.
