Emergency Relief

Project #62250

Guatemala Honduras Latin America Relief

November 18 update: Only two weeks after the devastation of Hurricane Eta in early November, Hurricane Iota made landfall just 15 miles from where Eta entered Central America, and followed a similar path. Areas that were flooded from Eta had begun basic clean up, only to be flooded again. The needs in several Central American countries, and particularly Honduras, remain enormous. Please join the Avant family in prayer for Central America. Consider a gift to aid in the ongoing relief efforts being coordinated with our related association of churches in Honduras.

November 7, 2019. Portions of Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras were hit hard by a catastrophic storm the same day as the presidential election in the United States. Hurricane Eta made landfall on the coast of Nicaragua as a catastrophic Category 4 storm and began a three-day path of destruction. Central and northern Honduras were especially hard hit, devastating families already deeply struggling due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Major rivers flooded, in some cases 12 feet higher than even the devastation of Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Bridges were destroyed, roads washed out, crops washed away, and public buildings such as schools, government offices and churches were flooded or destroyed. The largest airport in the country, near the city of San Pedro Sula, was completely under water, complicating relief efforts. Many thousands of people have been displaced, their homes and possessions completely lost.

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While the storm has now passed, thousands of people remain in urgent need of relief. Avant is coordinating relief efforts with its association of churches in Honduras, with work under way to meet pressing needs for housing, food, clothing and healthcare.

Approximately $11,420 USD is needed urgently to provide foam mattresses, bales of clothing, hot meals, personal hygiene kits and bio-security kits (masks, sanitizer gel, etc).

A longer-range need for approximately $300,000 USD will focus on repairs to churches and homes, as well as household furnishings.