Nomadic Thoughts: Monster

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Monster

The satellite images are just frightening and I can't help but think about the two communities I worked in just a few months ago in the northwest of Honduras near San Pedro Sula. I can only hope at this point that Felix moves fast and doesn't linger like Mitch did in '98, but either way there will be destruction.

Honduras is the poorest country in Central America and most rural communities are simply unprepared for anything more than a heavy rainfall. In June whenever I would ask the locals about the landscape and how they utilize water resources, the conversation invariably mentioned Mitch which killed 7,000 people in Honduras alone. Local infrastructure (i.e. streams and runoff paths) had to be retrenched to allow water and springs to flow freely to collection tanks and the effects of erosion and flooding are visible on the landscape to this day.

The implications for environmental studies in archaeology are profound: one incredibly destructive hurricane in '98 and now a Cat.5 making landfall makes you wonder just how ancient inhabitants of the valley where I work dealt with natural weather events on this scale and how often.

Posted by Will at September 4, 2007 03:03 PM in Honduras/Guatemala 2007

Comments

Mel and I just finished watching the weather and commented on how we were glad you were not down in that area now. I understand your concerns about the people you met and the communities where you were. New Orleans residents are still feeling the effects of Katrina 2 yrs. later and I'm sure most of them are better off economically. I will add these people to my prayer list.

Posted by: Chris at September 4, 2007 07:59 PM