Source:  Planning Date:  07/01/2002 Document ID:  UU20020813040048746 Subject(s):  Business & Investing; Government, Law & Politics Citation Information:  (ISSN: 0001-2610), Vol. 68 No. 7 Pg. 39 Author(s):  Jon Kohl

Before 1998, writes Megan Lewis in "Challenge in the Tropics" (April), "Central America and the Caribbean were making progress on various reforms." The truth is that Honduras still had a thing or two to learn about disaster planning.

In 1974, Hurricane Fifi walloped Honduras, killing 10,000 people. In the years following, Honduras did remarkably little to prepare for what would become Hurricane Mitch. For example, poor watershed management caused the Aguan River on the Caribbean Coast to flood heavily after Fifi. Twenty-five years later, farmers continued to chop down vegetation in the watershed. When Mitch struck, the river not only flooded, but carried the village of Santa Rosa de Aguan out to sea, killing dozens.

Even after Mitch, the same social patterns were repeated. People began moving back into high-risk zones; watershed-damaging farming practices and illegal logging continued; buildings were put up in the same flood-plains. The Ministry of Education built its new building close to the site of its predecessor along the Choluteca River in downtown Tegucigalpa, which Mitch washed away. When the first May rains came the next year, ministry officials were knee-deep in water.

Another example: Mitch destroyed 70 percent of Honduras's bridges. Many attribute this destruction to skimping on engineering specs by mixing more sand into the cement than necessary. Bridge watchers say that if Honduras's high corruption levels continue, this situation may not improve either.

Lewis notes that the new president, Ricardo Maduro, has expressed support for decentralization and local government. In fact, decentralization was a result of the hurricane, which practically eliminated the country's road system. For three months following Mitch, Honduras was run by local municipalities, according to Chester Thomas, the founder and director of a major NGO involved in reconstruction and relief in central Honduras.

Hopefully, the new president will study the messages raining down and prepare his country for the next hurricane.

Jon Kohl

Guatemala City, Guatemala