 Winter 2000 Vol. 1, No. 4 |
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| It really was a lethal mix. Increased number and severity of tropical storms due to changing global weather patterns. Massive deforestation in a region where 80 percent of the terrain is mountainous. An infrastructure that was already crumbling all around the country—and enormous debt repayments that stymied attempts to make needed repairs. Add it all up, and it's no wonder that last fall's Hurricane Mitch was so devastating to a nation like Honduras.
Our Brethren work teams saw the effects of this storm-of-the-century on our visit to southern Honduras in August. While the principle damage was to the nations of Central America, it was clear that the recipe that created Mitch was truly international. Fossil fuel consumption by the world's wealthy class exacerbates global warming, which leads to an increase in the number and severity of storms. International debtors demand over $1 million a day from Honduras in debt repayment, making it impossible for the government to respond to a housing shortage of 700,000 units short before Mitch. There is unjust land distribution in Honduras itself, driving tens of thousands of people to the steep hillsides and mountain slopes in their efforts to eck out a living. This, in turn, has created a deforestation rate of 250,000 acres per year—a rate that will lead to total deforestation by 2011. So we can see that tens of thousands of poor Hondurans, like their neighbors in Nicaragua, didn't really have a chance to escape the ravages of Mitch. Thousands were killed in the deluge; the lives and futures of tens of thousands more made even more Thus our response to Mitch, and to the Mitches of tomorrow, must be more than cleaning up after the fact. We must work with the people of Honduras and elsewhere to prepare a different recipe—one of justice and respect for God's creation. Do something today, this week, this year, this century to make the world a safer and more hospitable place for people everywhere, even unto the hillsides of Honduras. David Radcliff |