May 30, 2010: Common Hope has released an update, along with some pictures of damage in San Miguel Escobar.
On Friday, May 28th, the volcano Pacaya erupted outside Guatemala City covering the area with 3 inches of ash. Tropical Storm Agatha came onshore on Saturday, dropping over 4 inches of rain in less than 12 hours. The combination of the ash and heavy rain has resulted in mudslides and flooding in the areas where Common Hope works. Executive Director Shari Blindt and Country Director Tamalyn Gutierrez are on the ground in Antigua and wanted to share the following information with our supporters:
All staff and volunteers are accounted for and safe.
New Hope and San Rafael: The schools and villages are wet, but doing fine. Residents can’t leave the communities due to poor road conditions, but no reports of damage to homes or buildings so far.
Antigua: Common Hope’s Family Development Center is undamaged, although using a backup generator. We are starting to house families onsite who have lost everything. The city of Antigua did not experience a lot of problems, but many towns on the surrounding hillsides have been affected. The towns of San Miguel Escobar and San Pedro las Huertas have the most damage and currently San Miguel Escobar is inaccessible to first responders. Common Hope has a team of staff members visiting affiliated families and moving people to the project as needed. We are also delivering bottled water to areas without a source of drinkable water.
We do not have information on specific sponsored families at this time, but if we learn that your family has needed services we will do our best to be in contact with you as soon as possible.
The airport in Guatemala City is scheduled to be closed for the next 3 days. Common Hope does not have a need for volunteers at this time, so please do not try to travel to Antigua to help.
If you would like to help, please make a donation to our unrestricted fund so that we can use it where needed most. We know that be working for many weeks and months to relieve families who have been impacted – short term relief, rebuilding of houses, providing food and supplies, counseling through our social workers, and more. Your donations will make it possible to provide the assistance that our families need.
Your thoughts and prayers for the families and staff who are impacted are also greatly appreciated.
On behalf of our staff and families – mil gracias, Shari and Tamalyn
Comments are closed.