For a while, Hurricane Felix looked as if he might pass north of Cape Gracias a Dios. This cruel hoax was enough to slow early evacuations in Nicaragua, until it was too late. Then the killer curved south and quickly strengthened from a category 3 to the deadliest category, 5. This meant certain death for hundreds of Miskito Indians on the low-lying coast north of Puerto Cabezas, in Big Sandy Bay. My friends, Indian Rights Leader, Elvis Dublon and Dr. Umberto Castro Olayo, flew into the coast from Managua to protect their people, just before it hit. These guys are men by any definition that matters in a crisis. We’ll hear from them in a few days.
When Felix struck, there was a 2-man video team with three HDV cameras in Managua. No relief organization appeared ready to respond. Young Josh and Jason of the video crew tried to get a helicopter or a plane, tried to get in with army transport, got ready to drive in as far as they could and finally decided to personally mount an audacious sea-born rescue of the Big Sandy Bay region…population 12,000 Miskito Indians. This is the low-lying area where the eye-wall hit. It is also the heart of the Miskito Indian culture.
Trouble was they had $130 US, no supplies, no ship, no support and no chance. That didn’t matter, they would win anyway. They had one friend, Juan Samuel, a Black Miskito Indian whom I never knew to back away from anything during my 13 years of Human Rights work in Central America. Even if no one else in the whole region, including some well-financed groups, ever got to Big Sandy Bay, these guys would get there and save lives.
Josh Izdepski was in Big Sandy Bay 10 years before, on a six-week expedition, when he was 14. The day Felix struck, he turned 24. Now he was a film maker, with his friend, Jason.
The fly-over information states that there is no more Sandy Bay…There is no ground information. Josh and Jason aim to change that.
Updates as information becomes available...
RVIZ
www.suboceansafety.com
Showing posts with label Nicaragua. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nicaragua. Show all posts
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Hurricane Felix – Disaster Response 9.6.07
48 Hrs. after the passing
Tonight, in a high-speed miracle, with well-provisioned ship, the boys set sail for Big Sandy Bay. Caught up by this spirit, two dive boats follow them north with supplies and water. This charging rescue fleet’s departure is bittersweet. News has come in that at least 100 men are dead in the offshore Cayes 12-20 miles east of Big Sandy Bay. The storm killed some and the rest died of thirst, marooned in the saltwater mangroves; a bitter end. As incredibly fast as this rescue has developed, we are too late for the offshore islets, the Cayes, regrettably.
In reading the papers, I suppress a nervous laugh at the casualty count. 4, then 12, now twenty with 200 missing. That must be the number in Puerto Cabezas; and I’m sure it is low.
How can uncounted Indians be missing? As I know this coast well, I know that many hundreds have died with many more to come, unless there is intervention. Cholera may break out from unburied bodies and dysentery is already draining people to death. The government does not want to look like the "Katrina Clowns", so the “real” official numbers may never be counted.
Josh, Jason and the indomitable Juan Samuel will know the real story in the morning, about 60 hrs. after the passing. They will work without ceasing to save people and be out of communication for a few days. I wish my son, Josh, and his comrades health and success in the climax of their rescue; I can only wait to hear from them and pray for their safety and success.
We’ve done pretty well with nothing, yet again. I hope you will support Sub Ocean Safety to empower us to assist these people further. If you want to see a milliion dollar rescue with $130, stay tuned.
IZ, is
http://www.suboceansafety.com/
Tonight, in a high-speed miracle, with well-provisioned ship, the boys set sail for Big Sandy Bay. Caught up by this spirit, two dive boats follow them north with supplies and water. This charging rescue fleet’s departure is bittersweet. News has come in that at least 100 men are dead in the offshore Cayes 12-20 miles east of Big Sandy Bay. The storm killed some and the rest died of thirst, marooned in the saltwater mangroves; a bitter end. As incredibly fast as this rescue has developed, we are too late for the offshore islets, the Cayes, regrettably.
In reading the papers, I suppress a nervous laugh at the casualty count. 4, then 12, now twenty with 200 missing. That must be the number in Puerto Cabezas; and I’m sure it is low.
How can uncounted Indians be missing? As I know this coast well, I know that many hundreds have died with many more to come, unless there is intervention. Cholera may break out from unburied bodies and dysentery is already draining people to death. The government does not want to look like the "Katrina Clowns", so the “real” official numbers may never be counted.
Josh, Jason and the indomitable Juan Samuel will know the real story in the morning, about 60 hrs. after the passing. They will work without ceasing to save people and be out of communication for a few days. I wish my son, Josh, and his comrades health and success in the climax of their rescue; I can only wait to hear from them and pray for their safety and success.
We’ve done pretty well with nothing, yet again. I hope you will support Sub Ocean Safety to empower us to assist these people further. If you want to see a milliion dollar rescue with $130, stay tuned.
IZ, is
http://www.suboceansafety.com/
Hurricane Felix – Disaster Response 9.6.07
36 hrs. after the passing
The boys have made it to Bluefields and are enlisting the town in this rescue effort. They get $3,000 worth of diesel from thin air, food, medicine, tarps, buckets, Clorox, etc. All they can hold! The loading of the ship begins in earnest.
IZ
www.suboceansafety.com
The boys have made it to Bluefields and are enlisting the town in this rescue effort. They get $3,000 worth of diesel from thin air, food, medicine, tarps, buckets, Clorox, etc. All they can hold! The loading of the ship begins in earnest.
IZ
www.suboceansafety.com
Hurricane Felix – Disaster Response
12 hrs. after the Felix disaster:
Consultations and predictions…My job description
The map shows the heavily populated region Nicaragua’s Miskito Coast that took Felix's best hit. Awastara is 26 miles North of Pto. Cabezas and just South of it is a 50' hill where survivors will be praying for water in the heat. All these villages were just above sea level and could not withstand an 18' tidal surge with 30' waves on top.
All the water wells will be fouled for some time unforeseeable. The crops and livestock are gone. The huts are gone. There are only snakes in the trees with the buzzards and steaming heat.
6.56 miles WNW of Kaska is a 60-foot hill of refuge for all these villages. The Miskito will be there, waiting for the fouled waters to recede, digging graves or hanging from trees. In several days the flies will take over.
12,000 people lived in this region. Three days from now there will be much death, 100% dysentery, hundreds of bodies and cholera, if not typhoid.
Only US, British, Dutch or even French naval helicopters could help right now. The people could walk out as it dries, if they had water, but they will be weak.
All who are on these hill tops will likely die.
Press could help if there was video tomorrow. Perhaps someone would see the video of this desperation. Josh (011-505-443-9550) and Jason ( 011-505-477-5286) have HDV with directorial production skills and are in Managua, but have little chance of getting a heliocopter...all the politicians have them for photo ops. in Pto. Cabezas and the price is up 500%.
Cheer up, I'm sure it is just as bad along the Rio Coco. I imagine hundreds of paralyzed divers are dead. I hope that is somehow merciful.
I will continue to send you maps and the high points of refuge and point out obstacles, aids, regional needs, disease hazards, local doctors and whatever you ask, but water is king... I remain willing to consult about logistics or travel anywhere on the Miskito Coast in Nicaragua, or in Honduras, 24 hrs per day. This is a great and silent tragedy; a laisse-faire genocide in the heart of the Miskito Kingdom...home to some of the last free people on earth.
Without a miracle, there is no way to blunt this disaster…
IZ
www.suboceansafety.com
Consultations and predictions…My job description
The map shows the heavily populated region Nicaragua’s Miskito Coast that took Felix's best hit. Awastara is 26 miles North of Pto. Cabezas and just South of it is a 50' hill where survivors will be praying for water in the heat. All these villages were just above sea level and could not withstand an 18' tidal surge with 30' waves on top.
All the water wells will be fouled for some time unforeseeable. The crops and livestock are gone. The huts are gone. There are only snakes in the trees with the buzzards and steaming heat.
6.56 miles WNW of Kaska is a 60-foot hill of refuge for all these villages. The Miskito will be there, waiting for the fouled waters to recede, digging graves or hanging from trees. In several days the flies will take over.
12,000 people lived in this region. Three days from now there will be much death, 100% dysentery, hundreds of bodies and cholera, if not typhoid.
Only US, British, Dutch or even French naval helicopters could help right now. The people could walk out as it dries, if they had water, but they will be weak.
All who are on these hill tops will likely die.
Press could help if there was video tomorrow. Perhaps someone would see the video of this desperation. Josh (011-505-443-9550) and Jason ( 011-505-477-5286) have HDV with directorial production skills and are in Managua, but have little chance of getting a heliocopter...all the politicians have them for photo ops. in Pto. Cabezas and the price is up 500%.
Cheer up, I'm sure it is just as bad along the Rio Coco. I imagine hundreds of paralyzed divers are dead. I hope that is somehow merciful.
I will continue to send you maps and the high points of refuge and point out obstacles, aids, regional needs, disease hazards, local doctors and whatever you ask, but water is king... I remain willing to consult about logistics or travel anywhere on the Miskito Coast in Nicaragua, or in Honduras, 24 hrs per day. This is a great and silent tragedy; a laisse-faire genocide in the heart of the Miskito Kingdom...home to some of the last free people on earth.
Without a miracle, there is no way to blunt this disaster…
IZ
www.suboceansafety.com
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