Success Stories Vol. 4 | Page 14

Haz click en el vídeo para conocer su historia

Around 2,300 Honduran families reached with the Early Action Plan on droughts associated with the

El Niño phenomenon's activation

he El Niño phenomenon

is an event with extreme impacts worldwide, as declared by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Historically, Honduras has suffered the most severe droughts during El Niño events. In 2018, about

65,000 families in 13 departments of the country

were severely affected, causing food insecurity

and migration movements, according to reports from the United Nations Office for the

Coordination of

Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

To anticipate drought effects in at-risk communities located in the dry corridor of the country, the Honduran Red Cross activated its Early Action Plan (EAP) in July 2023, according to forecasts issued by NOAA and the National Center for Atmospheric, Oceanographic and Seismological Studies (CENAOS) of the Secretariat for Risk and Contingency Management (COPECO).

The potential impacts prioritized in the EAP include the loss of crops and livestock, increase in the price of basic food basket products, limited access to safe water, and the rise in diarrheal diseases due to unsafe water consumption or inadequate sanitation conditions. The teams' outreach with the communities was essential for the activation.

T

One of the main challenges of the activation was to reach communities with difficult access due to their location.

-Sarah López, Anticipation Focal Point, Honduran Red Cross