March 29, 2001

La Prensa Grafica reports that 17,000 people have sought professional psychological assistance since January, compared with only 7,000 for all of last year.    The Minister of Health confirms that the 20-30% increase is directly related to trauma from the earthquake:  "There aren't any Salvadorans who are unaffected by the stress [of the quakes], but every one reacts differently, some with crying or depression, others with violence."  The cramped living spaces and unemployment that the quakes have caused are also contributing factors.

 

March 28, 2001

El Diario de Hoy reports that a decline in fishing following the earthquake has led to the loss of 70% of jobs in that sector:  42,000.  This includes both traditional and industrial fishing.

 

March 27, 2001

La Prensa Grafica reports that, according to CEPAL statistics, poverty in El Salvador will increase 7-10% due to the earthquakes (approximately 500,000 people).   Most of this increase will be centered in the provinces of San Vicente, Cuscatlan, La Paz, and Usulutan.

El Salvador's agricultural sector suffered $265 million in damages.  The government will invest $56.5 million to help farmers recover.

 

March 23, 2001

El Diario de Hoy reports that a World Food Program study reveals that, following the earthquakes, as many 40% of young children in El Salvador may suffer from extreme malnutrition.

 

March 22, 2001

La Prensa Grafica reports that the Ministry of Education has confirmed that 15% of the schools throughout El Salvador (564 out of 4,861) were totally destroyed by the earthquakes - reducing the number of students it can serve by 10% (150,000 students).  It will cost approximately $63 million to rebuild the schools.  An additional 400 are now vulnerable to flooding and landslides.

 

March 21, 2001

El Diario de Hoy reports that the Salvadoran government will create a new office to bring together all of the different government agencies working on disasters and disaster prevention, which are presently divided between many different ministries.   By putting all of the personnel together, under the direction of the Ministry of Environment, the government hopes to improve its response to disasters and its ability to collect information.

 

La Prensa Grafica reports that the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock has dedicated $40 million to helping earthquake victims reactivate agricultural production.  Most of these funds will be directed towards coffee growers.

 

March 19, 2001

El Diario de Hoy reports that two small earthquakes hit El Salvador yesterday, registering 3.9 and 5.2.  No damages or injuries have been reported.

 

La Prensa Grafica reports that 10,000 homes in San Salvador alone are at risk of being buried by mudslides when the rainy season begins next month.

 

March 16, 2001

La Prensa Grafica reports that two earthquakes shook El Salvador again yesterday afternoon, registering 3.9 and 5.7 on the Richter scale.  No one has reported damages or casualties.

 

March 15, 2001

El Diario de Hoy reports that today the free trade agreement (Tratado de Libre Comercio) between El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico goes into effect.  This lifts tariffs on 78% of all goods today, and gradually eliminates them on others over the next eleven years.  El Salvador is presently negotiating a similar treaty with Canada and seeks to sign one with the United States as well.

Plans are moving forward to turn Las Colinas neighborhood (buried by a gigantic mudslide in the first earthquake) into a park, using funds donated by the Government of Taiwan.  Half of the inhabitants and their heirs have accepted payments of 75,000 colones ($8,500) for their property.

 

La Prensa Grafica reports that the European Union no longer trusts the Salvadoran Human Rights Office (PDDH).  Because the institution has declined since 1998, the EU has called for the Salvadoran Legislature to appoint a new head.

 

March 14, 2001

La Prensa Grafica reports that 300,000 students remain at home rather than attending classes, because their schools were damaged or destroyed in the quakes.   Most of these students attended 685 schools in San Vicente, Usulutan, Cuscatlan, and La Paz (where only 20% of students are attending classes).

 

March 12, 2001

El Diario de Hoy reports that fissures in agricultural land along the coast of Usulutan and San Vicente could cause serious problems for farmers in those regions, especially during the rainy season which begins in April.

Since February 17, Central America has felt 49 more earthquakes, most centered near metropolitan San Salvador.

 

La Prensa Grafica reports that 40,000 Salvadorans have left the country since the first earthquake.

 

March 8, 2001

El Diario de Hoy reports that Flores' government did not receive the aid that it had hoped from Europe during his meeting in Madrid.  Some NGO representatives privately mentioned that more aid might have been made available if the government had cooperated with the FMLN.

All reconstruction aid offered to El Salvador over the next four years, including the US funds, totals $1.3 Billion dollars ($300 Million in donations, $700 Million in soft loans, and $300 Million in credit redirected from previously approved projects).  The Salvadoran government will be careful with this offer of help:  following Hurricane Mitch in 1998, foreign nations promised $3 Billion but only delivered $300 Million.

 

La Prensa Grafica reports that the FMLN unveiled its own reconstruction plan yesterday, calling for funds to be distributed among Municipal Governments, NGOs, the Government, earthquake victims, and small businesses.

The earthquakes hit rural single mothers the hardest, according to a report by the Salvadoran Institute for Women's Development and two NGOs.  Because they often supply their families' only source of income, many now must work harder to recover what they lost rather than continuing self-improvement such as literacy or skills training.  Once food donations disappear, many will have to work, often in jobs paying less than the minimum wage.  Because of the emergency situation, womens' rights programs have been put on hold.

 

March 7, 2001

El Diario de Hoy reports that the FMLN's reconstruction plan is creating controversy among the other political parties.  It includes a call for expropriating land for building homes for earthquake victims and raising taxes on the wealthy to help pay for reconstruction.

Today, as the Salvadoran government meets with european governments in Madrid to request aid, Spanish leftist groups will protest against the Salvadoran government.

 

March 5, 2001

The New York Times reports that USAID is distributing some US Government earthquake relief funds through an American Evangelical group which blurs "the line between church and state as its volunteers preach, pray and seek converts among people desperate for help."

 

The National Emergency Committee reports that major aftershocks continue on a daily basis.

 

La Prensa Grafica reports that, in anticipation of President Flores' visit to Madrid on March 7th, that the Salvadoran Bishops' Conference has requested the government to carry out a reconstruction plan that does not exclude or marginalize anyone.   Archbishop Saenz has repeated his request to keep political partisanship away from reconstruction.

Despite the damages of Hurricane Mitch and the recent earthquakes, the Salvadoran congress still has not passed disaster prevention legislation although the Ministry of Interior with the National Emergency Commission, as well as the Salvadoran Ecological Unit (UNES), have presented plans to this effect. 

 

March 3, 2001

La Prensa Grafica reports that following meetings between Presidents Flores and Bush, the United States agreed to suspend the deportation of undocumented Salvadorans who entered the United States before February 13 for 18 months (approximately 150,000 people who in 2000 sent $1.7 billion back to their country).  Bush also promised to provide an aid package of $110 million over two years.

 

March 2, 2001

El Diario de Hoy reports that the Salvadoran government is denouncing the multiple protests that El Salvador is experiencing this week, accusing them of being people manipulated by the FMLN rather than earthquake victims.  The Minister of the Interior went on to accuse the FMLN mayors of manipulating the aid they receive so as to discredit the government.

Protests over aid distribution took place in many parts of the country, including Cuscatlan, Ahuachapan, Usulutan, and San Vicente.  After a confrontation in San Salvador between the Association of Local Reconstruction Committees and the police yesterday, the government agreed to consider their demands:  direct beneficiary participation in reconstruction, the creation of a housing reconstruction fund, that the funds promised by the government to the municipalities be disbursed, that relief aid distribution be made more efficient, and that all earthquake victims be eligible to receive assistance.

Classes for 6,000 students in the Bajo Lempa region have still not begun again because the authorities have still not inspected the schools to assure their safety.

 

March 1, 2001

The New York Times reports that a magnitude 6 earthquake struck off El Salvador's coast, shaking most of Central America.

 

El Diario de Hoy reports that CEPAL (the Latin American Economic Commission) estimates total damages from the two big earthquakes at $1.6 Billion -- without taking into account destruction to cultural or religious sites, or the transportation infrastructure.  The national poverty level could rise between 7 and 10%.

 

La Prensa Grafica reports that although yesterday's quakes in Washington state and Central America occured three minutes apart, they were unrelated - as they occured on two different tectonic plates.  As a result of the quake in El Salvador, salt water again emerged from the ground in the Bajo Lempa like a geyser.

 

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