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A little more than two years ago, while hurricanes Eta and Iota shook Honduras, a grandmother and her grandson fed hundreds of victims at a community center in the city of San Pedro Sula. The Sinaí neighborhood, where Martha Molina, 72, and José Pineda, 13, still live, is one of the few that is not flooded in the Rivera Hernández sector, in which the majority of homes succumb to the storms, which are lurking more and more frequently. Now, while the community's anxiety grows due to the threat of heavy rains during the end of the year, Molina and his grandson are preparing to help those possibly affected at the Emanuel center, which has become a safe haven for victims of the climate change in the sector thanks to the work of the residents of Sinai.
The colony, which owes its name to a sacred mountain according to biblical history, represents hope for the residents of Rivera Hernández, one of the poorest and most violent sectors of this industrial city in Honduras. The residents of the neighborhood have built, without anticipating it, a support structure for storms since November 2020. “We were not prepared to respond to the Eta and Iota emergency, but we opened the place for whoever might need it. In the end, we had about 500 people housed here,” says community leader Karla Castellón, as she walks through the halls of the Emanuel center, where about a hundred families arrived with the belongings they saved from the hurricanes.
“There was a woman who looked like a horse pulling a cart. She was alone with several children, dragging with ropes the things that she had taken out of her house” recalls Castellón, with his expression still stupefied at the memory of that image of her. The unexpected arrival of people like that mother caused the inhabitants of Sinai to organize a quick collection to provide food. This solidarity allowed the victims to take refuge from the inclemency of the rains. At that time, aid arrived unexpectedly and people like Castellón and Molina left for their homes at dawn after caring for the victims, without knowing that two years later they would encounter a similar scenario during Storm Julia.
On that second occasion in which the storm devastated hundreds of other homes in October 2022, the Sinai community was more prepared to care for those affected. The neighbors recorded the names of the almost 450 people who stayed at the center, managed to enable the 11 bathrooms of what was once a school, reconnected public services and prepared communal pots to feed the families. “I helped in the kitchen and my grandson ran errands,” recalls Molina, who also suffered from hurricanes Fifí and Mitch, in 1974 and 1998, respectively.
José Pineda was in charge of going to the stores because he was one of the few who could navigate the streets of the neighborhood without problems. “I went to the grocery stores for the things that people needed because the kids (maras or gangs) know me,” says the teenager, who is in seventh grade. In Sinaí, as in all the neighborhoods of Rivera Hernández, the gangs control entry and permanence in the territories. This insecurity, added to the precariousness that floods the dirt alleys of the neighborhoods, undermines attempts to help people from other areas. Therefore, by overcoming invisible borders, the residents of Sinai have become an example in the sector. “We want to guarantee humanitarian access to all people regardless of where they come from,” says Castellón, mother of three women, who, like her, have also grown up in Rivera Hernández.
The work of your community has grown stronger in the last three years. Eta, Iota and Julia have brought the inhabitants of the colony together in the second country most affected by extreme weather events, according to the World Bank. In its 2023 Report on Climate and Development in Honduras, it was predicted that between 40,600 and 56,400 people will be forced to mobilize within the country by 2050 due to the impacts of climate change. This is in addition to the 247,000 internally displaced people, according to the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR.
![Martha Solórzano, affected by flooding in her community, in the Emanuel center of the Rivera Hernández Sector.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/gR8ejgGgEQSWI7D2tdqhUylpRZ0=/414x0/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/KKRY7JUY5JETRJEIRELPWP5JOI.jpg)
To respond to this panorama, UNHCR has supported actions such as those of the residents of Sinai and has helped them become a Local Emergency Committee (Codel) recognized and endorsed by the city municipality since January 2023. That committee has already developed an early warning system to respond to disasters, together with government entities.
“We seek to establish bridges between citizens and institutions,” explains José León Barrena, head of UNHCR operations in the country. The agency's advice so that the leaders of the neighborhood dialogue with the municipality has made it possible for the Sinaí community to reach out to people from the Villas Kitur, Los Callos, Cristoviene neighborhoods and another dozen areas of the Rivera Hernández .
Families for whom community help is often the only option to defray the crisis. In fact, in recent days, families from the Cristo Vive informal settlement such as Guadalupe Pineda and Tatiana Solórzano have come to receive food at the Emanuel center, because the November rains already forced them to leave their homes. Upon arrival, Castellón welcomes them with bags of food and hygiene kits. The victims, once again, must mourn the loss of their belongings. “We were barely recovering from Julia when this happens. The refrigerator we just bought is no longer useful,” says Pineda, between sobs.
![Grace Hilendara, student and daughter of the general coordinator of the Emanuel Shelter in Rivera Hernández, during a day of volunteer work.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/NEl_GguIZbdJnDiw2butiqhQy6I=/414x0/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/BXXDGIIYPNCDXBJVIZ4JSG5Y7A.jpg)
In the Rivera Hernández, the population does not have the appropriate containment banks to protect themselves from the overflowing of rivers such as the Ulúa, Chamelecón and stormwater during rainy seasons. The inhabitants fear every time water touches their door. The same water that makes Castellón and Molina wait for the arrival of strangers to their neighborhood, in front of the Emanuel community center.
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