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Floods And Mud

It sounded like a fleet of helicopters coming closer and closer. Then, villagers in Honduras and Nicaragua felt the ground shake beneath their feet. Suddenly a wall of mud and rocks more than 20 feet high came crashing toward them. In just minutes, the mudslide destroyed everything in its path. Many people were buried alive. Others were trapped up to their shoulders.

Massive mudslides were caused by the heavy rains and high winds of Hurricane Mitch, which hit Central America for seven days. Last week, as a weakened Mitch moved away from Central America toward Florida, it left behind a terrible crisis. At least 10,000 people died, and more than 1 million were left homeless. Said Brian Atwood, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development: "This is the worst disaster we have seen in this hemisphere."

Erased From The Map
Hurricane Mitch dumped up to two feet of rain a day in parts of Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. A lake in the crater of a volcano in Nicaragua overflowed. Everywhere, the land seemed to be sliding. Said a farmer: "You could see houses, trees, everything being covered."

Many people escaped by climbing up trees and onto roofs. Others gasped for breath as they were dragged by the mud for hours. Rescue workers struggled to save them and bring food and clean water. Most crops, including bananas and pineapples, were destroyed.

Carlos Flores Facusse, the President of Honduras, said, "The floods and landslides erased from the map many villages as well as whole neighborhoods." He asked other countries to send help. The U.S. government promised to send $70 million in food, medicine and equipment to Central America. Many Americans also collected supplies to donate.

Miguel Rostran Laguna of Nicaragua found safety on a hilltop when the mud swallowed his home. "All you could see was mud where the village had been," he said. "Nothing is left."

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HELPING CENTRAL AMERICA
You can help victims by sending a donation to one of these groups:

• American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243,
  Washington, DC 20013
• CARE, 1511 Ellis Street N.E.,
  Atlanta, GA 30303-2626
• Save the Children, P.O. Box 975-M,
  54 Wilton Road, Westport, CT 06880

Next: The Year of the Tiger