El Salvador: WFP delivers food vouchers to people affected by floods after storm Alberto

The World Food Programme (WFP) began distributing food assistance to 1,400 Salvadoran families who fled their homes to take refuge in temporary shelters after storms struck between 14 and 16 June.

The torrential rains hit Central America, flooding big parts of El Salvador. In addition to the food, 1,400 families are receiving e-vouchers worth US$120 each to buy groceries and other essentials as they leave the shelters and return to their homes, from a host of designated outlets.

Carmen Alfaro lost many of her belongings in the floods. “There are eight of us in my family, so this is going to be very useful,” she said of the vouchers, adding that she plans to buy milk, beans, fruits, and other foods for her family.

The rains, floods, and landslides caused the deaths of 19 people while smashing infrastructure across El Salvador. The Government has declared a national state of emergency and requested WFP’s support. After the storm, a WFP emergency assessment revealed that 176,000 people were affected, and out of these, 52,000 needed food assistance.

Additional rains, caused by a depression that formed in the Gulf of Mexico, also affected Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, where WFP teams are ready to support an emergency response should authorities request it.

After passing through Central America, this depression strengthened to become tropical storm Alberto, the first named storm of this year’s Atlantic hurricane season (this happens when they fulfill criteria including strength and intensity). 

Emergency preparedness delivers 

WFP has worked closely with authorities in El Salvador to increase their emergency preparedness and response capacity, especially in providing technical assistance on early warning systems, including a video surveillance project to monitor in streams that have a high risk of flooding.

“It is one of the most important strategies in recent years,” said Luis Amaya, director of the Goverment's Civil Protection. “With this technical and economic support, we not only warn early, but we evacuate early, and that saves lives.”.

Evaluations continue

“We are accompanying the authorities, and we are evaluating the needs, and we will continue to respond appropriately,” said Riaz Lodhi, WFP’s Country Director and Representative in El Salvador.

Representative in El Salvador Riaz Lodhi: “WFP is conducting assessments as it considers extending the assistance it is currently providing to the most vulnerable families by two months.

Maria Alicia Cartagena’s family belongs to a community in Puerto de la Libertad where people receive WFP assistance. She works as a farmer, growing fruits and vegetables that she sells at the local market. Unfortunately, the floods destroyed her crops.

“We have faced many hardships, but this is the worst because we lost the agricultural areas,” she said. “These floods affect us a lot because we struggle every day to ensure we have enough food to eat.”

Learn more about WFP’s work in Anticipatory Action and in El Salvador