“It may rain, God willing!”

And it did! Finally, it seems it started raining in the north Pacific area of Nicaragua. Somotillo, where I am deployed, is in the “Dry Corridor” of Central America. In fact, the municipality is extremely vulnerable to drought. This year, however, the effect of El Niño together with a lack of preparedness had multiplied the effect and the rainy season seemed not to start. Many of the communities visited had lost the “first” harvest, normally planted in May, so few bean and corn was produced, the main ingredients of Nicaraguan diet. Moreover, lack of rain had meant that the water sources were drying up, affecting dwells, and no water was flowing through the two rivers of the municipality, Gallo River and Negro River. Even livestock had started to die.

People were worried and looking up to the sky, hoping drops to fall, expecting the weather to change. ‘God willing’, many still say. It is true that natural factors are a cause of drought in the area but the inappropriate use of natural resources, the contamination of water and the absence of coping strategies, lead unequivocally to water and food insecurity.

Hope the drops fallen in the last week and the ones to come, may not erase people’s memory, necessary to take action.

 

by Ainara Casajús