This 2 minute Al Jazeera report shows some of the impacts of the floods, including the tragic death of an 11 year-old boy swept downstream on Wednesday when he and his father went back to their village to check on their cattle against the orders of local authorities.  It also has some footage from President Funes’ recent visit to the offices of our partner organization, the Mangrove Association, which is currently the Center of Operations for disaster response for the area.

Some good news today, as people begin returning to their communities: after some initial troubles, reports are that most of the water systems are back up and running.  The water systems are extensive pipelines that our local partners (Mangrove Association/La Coordinadora) have built over the years with funding and volunteer labor from EcoViva, Rotary International and Engineers without Borders.  Reports from two days ago were that there were multiple damages.  We had been concerned that repairs to these systems would take months, and we were beginning to recruit engineers to help assess the problem.  Now it looks like (fingers crossed) once the water is fully disinfected with chlorine it will be safe to drink.