The teams of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras requested this Thursday more than 504 million dollars that will be used to implement a multisectoral response and will serve to protect and save lives and build resilience.
The Humanitarian Response Plans of the three nations for 2023 seek to assist 4.9 million people. Implementation will be carried out by national networks made up of United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, national and international NGOs, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, international cooperation agencies and government offices.
The assistance will be distributed to women, children and adolescents, people in situations of human mobility, indigenous and Afro-descendant people, people with disabilities and members of the LGBTIQ+ community
Humanitarian needs of the three nations
At least 1.1 million people have humanitarian needs in El Salvador, a figure that represents 16% of the total population of around 6.6 million.
An analysis of humanitarian needs in Honduras during 2021 revealed that 2.8 million people suffered from humanitarian needs. An update conducted during 2022 revealed that these needs increased due to a food security crisis, violence, human mobility, climate change and disasters (remnants of Eta and Iota, floods and droughts), increasing the number to 3.2 million. of people in need of humanitarian aid.
The departments with the greatest humanitarian needs in Guatemala were those of Izabal, Alta Verapaz, Quiché, Huehuetenango, San Marcos and Chiquimula. Humanitarian action will focus on populations affected by the impacts of food and nutritional insecurity, the groups that make up human mobility in all its manifestations and the remnants of Eta/Iota and the consequences of the recently ended rainy season.
Food insecurity, violence and displacement grow
The total number of people in need of assistance amounts to 9.3 million, a record that exceeds the number of Central Americans in need of relief assistance by one million at the end of 2021.
“Deteriorating conditions following the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change-related extreme weather events, as well as the impact of the Ukraine conflict on food, fuel and fertilizer prices, are leading to increased food insecurity, violence and displacement,” says the UN Office.
At least 7.8 million Central Americans suffer from Crisis levels of food insecurity or even worse in the three countries, which suffered from an exceptionally active rainy season in the second half of 2022 with floods and landslides.
In addition, 4.8 million people require protection, whether due to violence, forced displacement or other factors.
