Guatemala Update on Flooding & Volcano eruption.

Greetings to everyone. It is amazing how much can happen in one week. On Friday, May 28^th a volcano erupted near Guatemala City killing several people, destroying an entire village, causing the evacuation of two other villages and bringing a city of 3 million to a complete stand still. Four inches of thick, sand-like ash fell throughout the region causing the shutdown of the main airport and closures of schools and businesses. Thankfully it did not affect Fe Viva or our base, but it did affect many of our partners we minister with in Guatemala. It's quite an ordeal for many thousands of people and will continue to be for some time.

 Volcanic Ash in the streets of Guatemala

 

Mudslides covering a main high in Guatemala near a town that was wiped out.

 

Right on the heels of the eruption was Tropical Storm Agatha - that dropped three feet of rain in four days in many parts of Guatemala. As of June 1, close to 200,000 people have had to flee from their homes, dozens of bridges are destroyed, hundreds are dead and many, many homes are destroyed or damaged.

 

The Guatemalan government is doing what it can to provide shelter to these precious people, opening schools and centres for families to sleep and congregate. The government simply cannot provide enough aide for the displaced people. This is where the missionary community comes in. It is awesome to see the love of Christ in action. The moment there was opportunity to get out and help, the Fe Viva missionaries, staff and the children in our children's home, were out distributing dry clothing, toys and sharing the love of Christ to those who needed it. Below is an email we received from Steve Peters, director of Casa Esperanza and Fe Viva administrator.