The intensification and frequency of Caribbean storms is often attributed to global warming. Socioeconomic conditions force the poor to build their homes on the banks of streams where flashfloods occur. Their homes may have adobe walls which collapse in an earthquake, bringing the heavy tile roofs down on the occupants. And deforestation has undoubtedly made flooding and mudslides more frequent and deadly. But for the Latin America Mission, relief is more than tents, first aid and emergency rations for the survivors.
Real aid includes more than that.
Sometimes the more difficult thing is to maintain help for the following months after the initial wave of relief. We often say that instead of a fish it may be more important to give a person a fishing rod so that he can support himself. At the town of Waxma, Nery and Benjam n Mart nez actually handed out fishing kits, along with an envelope containing some emergency cash and a tract. Floods often release poisonous snakes, and taking snakebite venom in a cooler into the stricken area was much appreciated by the doctors who were treating people there. In addition to the usual rice and beans, the bags contained candles, coffee and Clorox, the latter for purifying water, along with toilet paper, soap, matches, candles and tracts.