Tropical Storm Agatha

Hello to all,

Notes from Guarjila..................

Tropical Storm Agatha

Life in El Salvador continues on. I guess it was something that I
learned and observed during the war. No matter how bad things can get
here, people keep moving forward. This week we suffered another blow;
Agatha.

It rained for at least five days non stop. When the rain ended
yesterday nine people had died, thousands had been evacuated from
their homes, roads and bridges had been destroyed and the president
had declared a national alert.

The president of El Salvador, Mauricio Funes, said that if the rain
continued through Monday, the country would have fallen into a major
disaster (thank God it stopped). The already challenged (and in some
cases non existent) infrastructure could not withstand one more drop.

Today as the sun shines over the rain soaked mountains there are still
families without homes, no land to farm, an infrastructure that is
badly beaten up and a good intentioned president who needs to figure a
way to relocate families to safety and come good on his many promises.
This is a country in need.

But what is amazing as the rain ends today, the sides of mountains
are filled with men and women planting corn seeds, planting the crop
which will feed them for another year. Undeterred by natural disaster,
war and what ever else may happen, seeds continue to be planted for
tomorrow. That is El Salvador.

Just a couple of notes on the storm. The many families that we are
working with at the Costa del Sol were all evacuated over the weekend
but today will return home. Here in Guarjila there was no damage to
homes or property. In the northern zone of Chalatenango we did see the
destruction of a large piece of the Sumpul River Bridge. The bridge
links the communities of northwest Chalatenango (Guarjila, Ellacuria,
San Jose las Flores with Nueva Trinidad and Arcatao). It was the
bridge that Jon Cortina built during the war. The swirling, rushing
water took out a chunk of the bridge. At the apex of the storm the
water rose two meters above the bridge. Currently vehicle crossing is
impossible but foot traffic is permitted. Critical public
transportation across the zone (Arcatao to Chalatenango) is now being
accomplished by relay. Buses from the north of the bridge are running
to the foot of the destruction at the Sumpul while other buses on the
Las Flores side meet the people crossing on foot and complete the run
to Chalatenango.

I can only imagine Fr. Jon Cortina (who reconstructed that bridge
during the war) seeing the destruction of this weekend. Jon had the
vision of a bridge that would link our communities with the capacity
to handle big trucks and buses, to not only move people but also
material to build. I guess Jon would say (with a huge smile….cigarette
in hand),”well it didn’t fall”. Then he would organize the
communities to reconstruct the broken section. The responsibility is
with the communities. Have no doubt it will be rebuilt.