[NYTr] Hurricane Felix Tears through Nicaragua
 
Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2007 17:20:12 -0500 (CDT)


Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
MADRE - Sep 5, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MADRE, An International Women's Human Rights Organization 

Contact: Diana Duarte, Media Coordinator
(212) 627-0444; email: media@madre.org

Hurricane Felix Tears through Nicaragua; Local Communities Destroyed

September 5, 2007 b New York b As Hurricane Felix made landfall on
Tuesday, pounding the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua, the impact of this
category five storm reveals the situation of at-risk communities
marginalized through discrimination and government neglect.  As winds
reached speeds of 160 miles per hour, wooden homes in Indigenous
Miskito communities have been destroyed, leaving people exposed to the
torrential rains.  Thousand have fled to higher ground, but have no
access to emergency shelter.

MADRE today emphasized that this hurricane and its ruinous effect on
local communities are characteristic of a larger, disturbing trend.  To
date, the majority of such disasters worldwide have struck low-income
countries, with women making up a disproportionate number of the poor
and of affected communities.  MADRE warned that climate change
threatens to exacerbate this unjust situation: many scientists contend
that hurricanes are increasing in force as sea temperatures rise;
meanwhile, poor communities continue to be denied the tools for
survival and recovery.

Vivian Stromberg, Executive Director of MADRE, said today, "The Miskito
communities in the path of this hurricane have long been below the
radar of the national government and will be further isolated by the
damages of this storm. Reports have already begun to emerge of people
killed by this storm, and there is no time to waste in the emergency
response.  Women's community based organizations, which have served
these communities for years, are best-suited with the knowledge and
ability to reach isolated communities and deliver aid where it is
needed most.  MADRE has already begun an effort to provide immediate
support."

MADRE's partner organizations in Nicaragua have been severely damaged
by Hurricane Felix.  Casa Museo, a community center and museum to
preserve and exhibit the work of Indigenous artists, has seen the bulk
of its displays destroyed by flooding. 

In 1998, these same communities were devastated by Hurricane Mitch, in
which flooding and landslides killed more than 10,000 people.  In the
coming days, the danger of flash floods and mudslides will persist, and
Hurricane Felix is expected to continue inland towards Guatemala.

MADRE today stressed the essential role of women in recovery efforts.
Women are often the primary care-takers for children, the elderly and
the disabled, and are best able to determine the needs of survivors.
Furthermore, MADRE emphasized that, as international relief efforts
begin, priority must be given to equipping local community based
organizations with the resources they need to respond effectively.

MADRE is in close communication with women leaders from Indigenous
communities impacted by Hurricane Felix and has launched an emergency
aid campaign through MADRE's Emergency and Disaster Relief Fund.  

For more information on MADRE's Emergency and Disaster Relief Fund,
click here: http://www.madre.org/programs/emergencyfund.html. 

For additional information on MADRE's urgent efforts to counter the
damages of Hurricane Felix, click here:
http://madre.org/articles/lat/nicarelief07.html.

Available for interviews:
 
Vivian Stromberg is MADRE's Executive Director, and her areas of
expertise include women's economic development, US foreign policy,
health care, popular education, sexual violence, human rights, and
child development.  She has thirty years of experience in responding to
disasters, and she was on the ground during the relief effort after
Hurricane Mitch in 1998.  In recent years, MADRE has provided support
to women's community based organizations in the aftermath of national
catastrophes, such as the Indian Ocean tsunami and the earthquake in
Pakistan.

Mirna Cunningham, Vice-President of the Indigenous Initiative for Peace
and Director of the Center for Indigenous People's Autonomy and
Development (CIPAD), was trained as a surgeon and teacher and has a
Masters in Public Health. She is an Indigenous Miskita and a former
member of the National Assembly of Nicaragua who also served as
Minister of Health and as Governor of the North Atlantic Coast.  Dr.
Cunningham founded (and acted as the first female Chancellor of)
URACCAN, the University of the Autonomous Regions of the Caribbean
Coast of Nicaragua, and served as the General Secretary of the
Interamerican Indigenous Institute.

MADRE is an international women's human rights organization that works
in partnership with community-based women's organizations worldwide to
address issues of health and reproductive rights, economic development,
education, and other human rights. MADRE provides resources, training,
and support to enable our sister organizations to meet concrete needs
in their communities while working to shift the balance of power to
promote long-term development and social justice. Since we began in
1983, MADRE has delivered over 22 million dollars worth of support to
community-based women's organizations in Latin America, the Caribbean,
the Middle East, Africa, Asia, the Balkans, and the United States.

 
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