Many of the victims of Hurricane Mitch lived on the shores of the rivers prone to flooding, or at the feet of deforested hills. The lack of preparedness has resulted in unsuccessful responses, to face these natural disasters leaving death and material destruction and also terrible injuries in the bodies and souls of the population. After an earthquake or flood, there are thousands of victims, orphans and citizens with tremendous psychological disturbances. The countries experience years of economic and social setback. Men and women become tremendously demoralized when they see that the progress that took years to build, disappears in a matter of minutes.
Disasters leave misery, deaths and injuries.
Poverty is the ideal context to breed unsafe practices, which will end up causing new human catastrophes. Vulnerability impacts the future of all countries, not only due to the loss of our heritage but also because the most vulnerable, are the weakest, and the weakest and most vulnerable are the children and the aged, who suffer the greatest consequences. To break up this vicious circle, and eliminate and reduce the impact of these events, is not an easy task. First and foremost, it requires of great individual and collective awareness, an awareness that involves all social classes, and that is later translated into international agreements, governmental policies, communities and families. It is the responsibility of the governments to pass appropriate laws that will contribute to reduce the impact of disasters, such as a modern construction code and sound environmental laws, and to strongly enforce these laws.