This Sunday morning, the 31^st of May, the Government of El Salvador announced red alert at national level.

According to preliminary official data, the following damage has been reported:

15 deceased people, 7 missing persons 154 emergency shelters enabled, and 7,222 evacuees and 18,622 families directly affected. Approximately 900 homes have been damaged and the water service is cut  in the department of San Salvador. Many communities have no electricity due to fallen trees over electric wires and structures. Needs assessment may reflect the real damaged in the next hours Some reports by users of social media are attached and a link to representative images is provided here (LINK)

According to community sources where members of the ACT Forum have a presence:

People and authorities have requested churches, community centers and cultural houses to be used as shelters. All over the country shelters are set to receive people affected by this event. 

Most of these emergency shelters have been improvised and can exponentially increase the cases of COVID19 as there are no appropriate protocols and some of them even combined evacuated and quarantined population.

 Seasonal crops (bananas, plantains, corn, beans and vegetables) in general are heavily damaged and in some cases totally lost; further depriving families of food and income sources to face the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.

You can directly access the latest information available from official sources through the following link: https://proteccioncivil.gob.sv/

Needs assessments would also be a challenge in the first days of the emergency, because municipal and departmental committees are not fully activated or coordinated with the central level. This is a result of the President´s decision to dismantle the national committee of civil protection and to delay the appointing of departmental governors; nonetheless, the communities are organizing to collect the necessary information and support, through their local organizations. So, at this stage working at local level is essential to set a link with the immediate needs. 

It is hoped to pay attention to the subsequent recovery stages in the most affected territories, providing necessary resources and rehabilitation mechanisms.

 The National Civic Protection System, which includes the national and military police, along with humanitarian and relief agencies are mobilizing, food, clothing, wash, hygiene and sanitation. While Churches are liaising with shelters, communities, and requesting humanitarian assistance, mainly for food, WASH, hygiene and sanitation.

Additional information on the ACT Forum member agencies is available on the:

https://actalliance.org/about/forums/

Any planned response will be led by the ACT El Salvador Forum integrated by the Lutheran World Federation, Christian Aid, Sinodo Luterano, and ALFALIT. In addition to life-saving assistance, the ACT Alliance will strive to integrate DRR, preparedness, climate change mitigation and advocacy into its response. After the issuance of the alert, the Forum and the ACT Secretariat will issue concept notes and status reports based on the needs assessments.

Please notice that due to the COVID19 current situation we will set activities aligned with the duty of care towards our beneficiaries, volunteers and staff.