From across the United States, from Britain, from Mexico, from dioceses around the communion, money and medicine, tools, clothing, food and prayers have started arriving. They have already started. The task before them is immense. With 70 percent of the country's infrastructure wiped out, almost 2 million made homeless, two-thirds of the nation's crops destroyed, rebuilding may take decades. Development has been set back 50 years, says President Carlos Roberto Flores.
Some dangers are immediate.
Floods destroyed food warehouses, washed out latrines, overwhelmed the sewer systems. With little potable water, the risk of cholera grows daily. Without immediate help, epidemics and famine could be next. We have before us a panorama of death. With thousands driven from their homes, the nation's schools and churches have become refugee shelters.