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
Samman Tyata
It was really sad to read about something like this. But I really loved the way how you have shaped you article. Honestly, I had no any idea about the incident. It was sad to hear that people had trouble seeking shelter from the hurricane because navigation around the city was limited. I have been in similar kind of situation during the earthquake in Nepal in 2015 and honestly, the experience was really bad. The situation was kind of same for me as well. Almost everything around the city had collapsed or had been destructed and help was limited. To sum it up, I really liked your article and it was a good read.
Grace Bell
This article was very emotional, I felt very moved by the story of what Honduras went through at this time and I have an understanding of what they went through due to hurricane Harvey and my family members that had been affected by the storm. This article does a great job at giving a great description of what happened, good job!
Richard Navarro
The topic of hurricanes always gets to me just cause people lose everything in an instance. I could only imagine living through a hurricane. This one in particular was extremely catastrophic. I am interested in the reason you wrote this article, have you lived through a hurricane? Very well written article informing the damage of Hurricane Mitch. This article really hit home due to Hurricane Harvey affecting Texas recently.
Andrew Rodriguez
With all the hurricanes happening today it is important to see in out history on what we could’ve done better in the aftermath. I feel like we are becoming better at that, helping at the right time knowing what they would need. With our modern technology we can be aware on the upcoming hurricanes almost about a week before it hits us so we can be prepared. But in Honduras they didn’t get to have this luxury. The government needs to be held in check for there actions they picked to not to help in the reconstruction during the time. Very well researched article.
Michael Mandujano
I felt this article was necessary to read due to all the catastrophic natural disasters that have been occurring throughout the month of September. However, this article about Hurricane Mitch that hit Honduras in October of 1998 was very interesting and provided me an overview of the terrifying damages that occur after a hurricane. In fact, I enjoyed the detailed images that were depicted throughout the article.
Amanda Figueroa
This was a well written and very informative article that is relevant to what is happening in the world right now. It’s sad to know that many people can’t afford to leave their homes during a hurricane and are in great danger. I wonder why the government did not give direct aid to their people and build up the economy together and better in the long run rather than letting many people suffer.
Veronica Spryszynski
Very tragic event on Honduras. As for a recent earthquake in federal district Mexico many factors are similar. The government is wrong for not providing aid in reconstruction, money, and food/supplies. These natural catastrophes take to many homes, building, and lives. I think we need to improve external help for these countries affected. I find these types of events so heavy on my heart, the government needs to enhance their resources.
Osman Rodriguez
Very interesting article. I know with the current hurricanes that have happened, people would definitely like to know more on how they have affected people. I also found this article interesting because my father is from Honduras. I never knew such a hurricane had hit his homeland. Maybe that will be a future topic for discussion with him. I assume the damages would be catastrophic in Honduras. Especially since it is, comparatively, and under developed country.
Ashley Tumlinson
This article is very well written and amazingly descriptive. I think because of all the natural disasters that have been occurring recently with Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma, the earthquake in Mexico, and other storms forming- your article definitely caught my attention. It was really eye-opening to read just how many deaths there were because of this catastrophe. Also, reading about how because of water, nearly the entire city was lost and it could not function.
Josselyn Arrieta-Meraz
So sad to read on such events, and the effect these natural disasters have on us humans, especially for Honduras where many of it’s citizens live day by day, and reaching a point to where everything they ever knew and owned is taken away can be heartbreaking because it was all built on the base of hard work and dedication. Sometimes we forget about that affects other counties until it occurs to us, as humans we can sometimes be selfish and self centered, but the truth is that we are all equally at risk at being affected by such events from mother nature.