A young couple and their two daughters face the difficulties of living a few meters from a river in the department of Chalatenango.
“In winter the river reaches a level where it is almost leveled with the house”
Adelaida, mother of two girls in El Salvador
“In winter the river reaches a level where it is almost leveled with the house,” says Adelaida, a young mother who lives with her husband and two daughters, ages 8 and 5.
Adelaida’s family lives on the banks of the Lempa River, the largest and most plentiful river in El Salvador. During the winter, the river’s flow increases much more and sometimes generates floods that put the surrounding communities at risk.
“The problem we have is because of the outlets that the river has, when it grows too much it also overflows the ditch on the other side and we are trapped in this area”, Alonso, father of a family and farmer in the area.
A devastating storm
Tropical Storm Pilar passed through Salvadoran territory between October 29th and November 5th, 2023, leaving 3 people dead, more than 263 families affected and almost 70 houses damaged, according to data from the General Directorate of Civil Protection.
“We try to be alert all the time, even at night we cannot sleep well because we have to be attentive, we tell the girls that they should not go near because it is dangerous, all the houses in this area are at risk and the crops are flooded, the production rots and the whole harvest is lost,” Alonso laments when recalling the damage caused by the storm.
Emergency response
“We were told that those of us who had been affected by the floods could go and get a voucher that helped us to buy basic things like oil, soap and everything we needed for the home,” says the young mother.
Adelaida and Antonio’s family was one of the many that were supported by Plan International’s Early Action Fund project, which sought to provide humanitarian assistance to children, adolescents, young people and their families affected by the weather.
“In the future, if one of us is missing, the girls already have the education and knowledge to be able to get ahead,” Antonio envisions when thinking about the future.
According to the report of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, there are more than 1.1 million people in need of assistance in El Salvador, but in order to attend to at least half of them, an investment of around US$87 million is required.
Adelaida and Antonio’s family is like many others, one of the hundreds of families that live in a vulnerable situation, both because of the risk of living on the banks of a river and because of the food insecurity that losing their main livelihood under the same threat represents for them.
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