Honduras announces reconstruction and recovery plan after major natural disaster amid the pandemic

TEGUCIGALPA, Nov. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, shared before the G-16 representatives an overview of the current situation of the Central American country after it was battered by two major storms in less than 15 days.

During the virtual conference, Hernández outlined the roadmap to be followed and the urgent need for resources to complement humanitarian aid and undertake the reconstruction of the affected areas. 

Although it is still too early to quantify the damage caused by hurricanes Iota and Eta, the most conservative estimates indicate that it could reached over 10 billion dollars.

"I feel there is a strong will at the multilateral credit organizations and the G-16 group in assisting Honduras" President Hernandez said. Previously, Hernandez had a virtual meeting with the President of the World Bank, David Malpass.

Honduras action plan for the recovery consists of 3 stages: an immediate response to take care of the basic need of the affected population, the rehabilitation of damaged infrastructure and last, the plan will focus on the reconstruction of Honduras.

"Our goal is to attend the basic needs of about 60,000 to 70,000 families who practically lost everything. We are also committed to seeking fresh resources from multilateral organizations to support the productive sector" Hernández said. "We need to build social housing with different standards and move people out of areas in risk due to floods and landslides".

From his end, the Minister of Finance, Marco Midence said that the path of Eta and Iota through the territory of Honduras generated an emergency situation at a national scale which aggravates the economic and social crisis caused by the pandemic. "Due to the impact of COVID-19, we estimated an annual fall of the economy of 7%. Now, we must add the devastating effects of the last storms, which have left behind serious damage to the agricultural sector and the infrastructure, worsening the condition of the poorest population and deepening the vulnerability of the country" Midence said.

The government official said that the roadmap for the recovery is the result of a joint work with various sectors and it outlines a clear and defined strategy for the implementation of sound measures to face the devastating effects of the tropical storms, without ignoring the fight against the spread of COVID-19.

It was announced that other meetings have been held with authorities from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) and the World Bank, and that the United Nations Systems has given its support.

SOURCE The Government of the Republic of Honduras