Women try to recover belongings after the passage of Hurricane Eta at the Omonita neighborhood in El Progreso, Yoro department, Honduras, On November 15 2020, before the arrival of Hurricane Iota.

Photo by Orlando Sierra / AFP

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is deploying a Disaster-Assistance Response Team (DART) to respond to back-to-back hurricanes in Central America and Colombia, that has affected millions of people and caused severe flooding, landslides, and damage. The United States, through USAID, was already providing assistance after Hurricane Eta made landfall. Following the landfall of Hurricane Iota as a powerful Category 4 storm in the same region, USAID is now allocating an additional $17 million in life-saving aid to help people affected by both hurricanes in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua. This new funding includes up to $8.5 million in Honduras, $7 million in Guatemala, and $1.5 million in Nicaragua to provide emergency shelter, food, hygiene supplies, critical relief items, and protection for the most vulnerable people, many of whom are from indigenous and Afro-descendant communities. In Colombia, we are providing relief supplies to affected families and equipment for firefighters to clear fallen debris.