IT IS A month since Central America was hit in quick succession by two hurricanes. Parts of northern Honduras are still under water: 50 bridges are down, and 120 roads and many hospitals and schools are still flooded. In all, some 200 people died and 7m were affected by the storms, most of them in Honduras and Guatemala, according to the un. Tens of thousands of homes were destroyed, and perhaps 175,000 people are living in makeshift shelters.The hurricanes came at a bad time, amid the pandemic and its economic slump. Whereas in Guatemala and Nicaragua they struck rural areas, in Honduras they devastated the Sula valley, the country's economic heartland. The Honduran economy was already set to shrink by 7%, and unemployment had soared. Honduras, a country of 10m people, "is now facing the greatest catastrophe in its history", says Gina Kawas, a consultant at the Central American Bank for Economic Integration who is based in Tegucigalpa, the capital. Total damage is equivalent to 40% of GDP.
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