Tzu Chi Foundation’s Hurricane Ida relief efforts in El Salvador

Hurricane Ida swept across the Gulf of Mexico, leaving behind floods and mudslides in El Salvador. As of now, 194 people have been killed, while 80 people are missing, and 15,090 people are left homeless. The capital of El Salvador, San Salvador, and central San Vicente province are the hardest-hit regions.

Tzu Chi volunteers in El Salvador immediately mobilized to provide emergency relief work in four cities: La Libertad, Soyapango, San Vicente and Apopa. The volunteers prepared food, clothing and eco-friendly blankets (shipped from Tzu Chi Taiwan headquarters) to be distributed to the survivors and evacuees.

At 10am on November 10^th, the team of volunteers arrived in La Libertad to conduct relief distribution in two schools close to the city center. Ever since the disaster happened, most of the evacuees in the area stayed in the two schools awaiting relief supplies. Most of the evacuees were children and elders, since many of the young people have left their hometown for work.

On November 11^th, the team of volunteers arrived in the city of Apopa. Most of the town was buried by the mudslide. Heavy rainfall caused the riverbank to burst, mudslide and flood destroyed hundreds of homes.

A 26 year-old resident and his wife and one year-old child were lucky to escape from the devastating disaster. He said, “At two o’clock in the morning, it was raining really hard. Suddenly, it started to shake, and I heard a loud banging sound. Next, I found myself lying in the rubbles in what used to be my home.” Another resident said, “It was terrible, rocks came rushing down the mountain and fell on my roof. They split my home into two. I heard people around me screaming…” After the mudslide occurred, military personnel and local residents used shovels and their own hands to dig and find the missing people.

Two elderly were brought into the shelter, and Tzu Chi volunteers immediately put clothes on them and brought them hot soup and blankets. The elderly couple decided to escape to a cave in higher ground when they saw that water level was rising in the river. The military personnel in the area found them and brought them to the shelter.

On November 12^th, Tzu Chi volunteers as well as some residents of the Great Love Villages (Tzu Chi built two Great Love Villages, with 1,175 homes, in Sacacoyo and Chanmico, El Salvador for the survivors from the 2001 earthquake) met up and traveled to the city of Soyapango to provide relief distribution. The roads were damaged, so it took some time before reaching the destination.

Tzu Chi volunteers distributed supplies in three villages in the city. Evacuees from the three villages had no place to stay, so they found some plastic cloth and bamboo or wooden pieces as well as ropes from the rubbles in order to build a temporary “home.” The only household items they had were pieces of clothing and pots and pans and utensils found in the rubbles.

A volunteer from the Great Love Village said, “When I saw these suffering people, it reminded me of the earthquake in 2001. I was able to find pieces of memory from my past in the rubbles after the earthquake hit. Even though I was lucky to survive, but I did not know where to go. Luckily, Tzu Chi Foundation came to assist us and found me a home and a job. Now that I can stand on my own feet again, I am here to help. I am very grateful to Tzu Chi.”

Relief aid provided to the survivors and evacuees of Hurricane Ida in El Salvador: