The night of October 29, 1998 was a particularly horrible night for the citizens of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Bridges, hospitals, factories, and prisons were demolished.1 During a period of thirty-six hours Hurricane Mitch poured into the city 25 inches of rain, causing soil saturation with water, bringing about catastrophic landslides. The rain also brought flooding to neighborhoods adjacent to creeks and rivers that customarily have small amounts of water flowing. This flooding ravaged roads and houses, and cut off electric power to most parts of the city.2
People had trouble seeking shelter from the hurricane because navigation around the city was limited. Streets were flooded and bridges were down throughout the city. Hospitals were rapidly filled, but they did not have the necessary conditions to attend to people’s needs because water sources were contaminated, and in certain hospitals, the buildings themselves were affected directly by the flooding as well.3
Five days before Mitch’s arrival, Tegucigalpa was a completely different city. Its citizens could not imagine how their homes and streets, and hospitals and parks, would be affected by the hurricane that was forming on October 24, 1998. Two thousand miles southwest of Jamaica, the tropical storm Mitch became Hurricane Mitch. This 124-mile-diameter beast traveled throughout the Caribbean, passing by the Panamanian coast and then to the Honduran coast where it halted to unleash chaos for day after day. On October 26 it reached its maximum strength, reaching wind speeds of 177 mph, while it hovered off the Honduran coast. On October 29, it hit the Honduran mainland as a Category 4 hurricane, with massive amounts of rain in a short period of time. In two days, Honduras received between twenty-five and thirty times the expected amount of rain for the month of October. As a consequence, Tegucigalpa began to flood because rivers accumulated more water than they could carry, and they began to overflow. Throughout this hilly city, the soil was also over-saturated with water, so landslides occurred frequently.2
The casualties of this terrible catastrophe were 5,657 people, and it left 8,058 missing people and 12,275 injured. Additionally about 250,000 persons were left homeless. The damages to infrastructure reached $3.8 billion. During the following two years, all of the international financial aid that the country received was solely destined to reconstructing the 70% of the national highway system that was affected, including the 92 bridges that were either damaged or completely destroyed. Almost one out of every four classrooms of the public schools were destroyed, and for the ones that remained, it was hard to find teachers, because a great number of teachers were themselves reconstructing their lives by the side of their families. Water conducts were affected and failed to provide clean water to most Tegucigalpan citizens’ homes and to public and private hospitals too.3
Many citizens claimed that the government was not supporting them in the reconstruction of the country, because they did not receive direct help in the form of work or money directly from the government. Instead, the government destined the financial aid they were receiving to reconstruct the most important roads to enable transportation. Once transportation became available, the plan turned to boosting the economy through agricultural production.6
This catastrophic event considerably affected Honduras, and specially Tegucigalpa, because of the great amount of damage it caused to the infrastructure of the country, and because of all the human lives taken and affected by it.
- Jeff Boyer, “Mitch in Honduras,” NACLA Report on the Americas XXXIII, no. 2 (September/October 1999): 36. ↵
- William Smith, “Hurricane Mitch and Honduras: An illustration of population vulnerability,” International Journal of Health System and Disaster Management 1, no. 1 (2013): 54. ↵
- William Smith, ” Hurricane Mitch and Honduras: An illustration of population vulnerability,” International Journal of Health System and Disaster Management 1, no. 1 (2013): 54. ↵
- William Smith, “Hurricane Mitch and Honduras: An illustration of population vulnerability,” International Journal of Health System and Disaster Management 1, no. 1 (2013): 54. ↵
- William Smith, ” Hurricane Mitch and Honduras: An illustration of population vulnerability,” International Journal of Health System and Disaster Management 1, no. 1 (2013): 54. ↵
- Jeff Boyer, “Mitch in Honduras,” NACLA Report on the Americas XXXIII, no. 2 (September/October 1999): 37. ↵
46 comments
Joel Gracia
This was a great article on a terrible event in history. It is so easy to consider hurricane Katrina as the worst hurricane disaster because it was so close to us here in America, but so many people, including myself for some time, forget that a city in a different part of the world had one much worse. It is painful to imagine that these places are surely still experiencing countless repercussions stemming from the original blow of the massive storm. With all storms that have been occurring, we can only hope that a disaster of this magnitude does not occur again.
Karina Gonzales
This was a well written article. I honestly had no knowledge of this event and after reading I feel informed about the the tragedy and aftermath of Hurricane Mitch. It is so heartbreaking that people and their families have to go through seeing their community destroyed in such a way. This article fits so well in today’s time considering Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma just happened and devastated the areas they touched down in. It seems like the people of Honduras were in the same situation Puerto Rico is currently in by getting really no help from the government. Such a sad event.
Sarah Mares
Hurricanes and all natural disasters are inevitable, but when they proceed to destroy the humaneness of a city or country, they become completely tragic. I previously had no knowledge of Hurricane Mitch prior to reading this article, but thanks to this informative article, I am now aware of the great losses the people of Tegucigalpa, Honduras had suffered. It is always so sad to hear of a natural disaster occurring out of nowhere. disrupting and taking the lives of many innocent people, like those in Honduras. Although Honduras was greatly affected by Mitch, 19 years later, the Central American country’s citizens have moved on by rebuilding and picking themselves up after the catastrophic events of 1998.
Teresa Valdez
This article strikes a chord with the numerous hurricane devastating the Americas in the past month. With all the footage from the news and the internet, it is easy to imagine the havoc that Hurricane Mitch caused the people of Honduras. With all the relief money going towards transportation, it must have been difficult for the people to rebuild their lives without government aid. This article felt like it lacked a narrative arc. Despite this, it is filled with information and images that made me sympathize for the Honduran people due to current events. Great article!
Maria Callejas
This was a great article! Not only was this a catastrophe in Honduras, but also in my native Nicaragua. I was actually born shortly after the horrendous rains ceased. You provide a vast amount of facts about the immensity of the damages left in Honduras, this paints a clear picture of the magnitude of this hurricane. Also, this is a very good article pick, as the world has experienced a severe hurricane season this year. The power of nature is unstoppable, and it has always made that clear. Good job!
Josemaria Soriano
This article has interested me especially for two reasons: the first is that I am Latino and I have a lot of Honduran friends who have talked with me about the subject. Second, we are in a month full of hurricanes. In just one month we have had five hurricanes (Harvey, Irma, Katia, Jose and Maria), and although there have been cities prepared for this, others were destroyed due to lack of prevention. Houston was flooded due to lack of canalization in the city, Puerto Rico was destroyed because there was no infrastructure against hurricanes, although Puerto Rico is in a hurricane zone. On the other hand, it is regrettable that the US government had no reserves in case of hurricanes, and that political problems delay humanitarian aid to Puerto Rico. That is why I consider this article fundamental, because it tells us in a loquacious way how a hurricane can destroy the lives of many people. Remember that if we forget history, we will commit it again, and that the best defense is prevention. In Honduras, 80% of the country’s transportation infrastructure was completely destroyed, including many bridges and alternate roads; the damage was so huge that the existing maps were rated obsolete. Moreover, this terrible hurricane not only affected Honduras, but also other countries too. Although Mitch never entered Nicaragua, his long career caused a prolonged rain that caused damage in 17,600 houses and destroyed 23,900, displacing 368,300 people. These tragedies will continue to occur, but we are able to stop the destruction they cause. Everything depends on the competence of the government, together with the collaboration of the population, to be able to prevent hurricanes like those that strike us today.
Edith De Loera
I have a friend whose family was gravely affected my Hurricane Mitch in Honduras. With all the hurricanes happening so frequently, I begin to worry of all the damages that they have caused. Families have lost loved ones, and many have lost their homes and belongings they have worked for throughout their lives. I fear that these catastrophes will become stronger and frequent.
Megan Barnett
It was sad to read about the hurricane that took place in Honduras and how many people were affected. It was disappointing that the people felt like they weren’t being helped because most believe that in times of natural disasters is when people really come together and work as a team, so not having that support makes the situation much less bearable. I was really hoping for a somewhat happy ending but that didn’t happen.
Alejandra Mendez
It is a horrible thought to think of all the lives lost due to this catastrophic event and many like it. I can’t imagine being in the shoes of the citizens of Tegucigalpa and having to watch as their homes were destroyed and washed away along with all of their hard work. With all of these hurricanes and natural disasters happening at this moment, it really makes you think about when the next one will hit and if you are prepared enough for it to happen. It is a scary thought, but I have faith that God is with us always to give us strength and unity when we most need it.
Jazmin Pizana
Such a tragic event Honduras had to go through. It’s sad to read about something like this especially now with the recent hurricanes that have taken place this past month. It’s awful to hear about all the casualties that Honduras suffered and the missing people. The storm hit themes suddenly that they couldn’t fathom how they would continue after the storm especially the people who lost everything.