Author Archives: admin

Bolivia: Deaths in the Amazon

Written by Franz Chávez  Saturday, 13 September 2008(IPS) – The Bolivian government declared martial law in the northern province of Pando after as many as 15 indigenous supporters of President Evo Morales were killed by rightwing protesters near the town of Cobija.

Pat details Ike Aftermath

Dear Family, Sisters and Friends, Ike hit us in Gros Morne Saturday night and Sunday–worse than Hanna. There was a pause around 7 AM Sun. and I walked around the parish gardens which surround our house and the control ditches were full to the top, but holding. Then the downpour continued another six hours and the end of the second ditch broke and flooded the grounds of John XXIII high school for the second time in a week. Plans are under way to make the erosion controls stronger! The owner of the land above the gardens is willing to cooperate now.

Notes on Ike

We haven’t been able to contact Gros Morne yet since Ike came through this weekend. We hope to speak to them soon, but in the meantime we have been able to glean some information about Ike’s impacts from the web read more

Detailed Report from Pat (Post Hannah, Pre Ike)

Here is a report from Pat in Gros Morne on the status of the community and agro-forestry projects there. We haven’t yet had further contact with Pat since Ike hit this weekend. We are preparing to assist in the appeal that Pat and the local religious community pulled together. Thank you for the outpouring of support thus far. If you haven’t yet, you can donate here. read more

Tens of Thousands Flooded in Gonaives

Today tens of thousands of Haitians are trapped in the flooded city of Gonaives in a gruesome replay of what happened in Hurricane Jeanne in 2004. Unable to move because of flooding, many Haitians are trapped on building roofs without food or clean water. Relief convoys have been turned back at the approaches to the town as they reached the edge of impassible lakes of water or could not cross huge gullies washed in roads.

Message from Pat in Gros Morne

Carol, In Gros Morne we hardly got a drop from Gustav but it wouldn’t let Hanna move on after Hanna slammed us hard. It’s worse than Hurricane Jeanne here. We have people staying at the center in Grepin again and there are families at the Salvation Army down the road from the center.–much property and garden lost. Five houses in town were washed into Riviere Mancelle. We don’t have many reports because roads are out and phone don’t work in a number of places. Gonaives is dreadful because of Hanna, and Ike and Josephine are on their way.

Gustav and Hannah Batter Haiti

Hurricane Gustav tore ashore at Jacmel on the southern peninsula of Haiti on August 26th. More than 12 inches of rain fell in a few hours on Haiti’s denuded hillsides. More than 75 Haitians lost their lives and over 8000 their homes in mudslides and flash floods in the hours afterwards. The sad truth is that Haiti was still recovering from tropical storm Fay which soaked the island earlier in the month, killing 23 read more