It is hot in Santa Cruz! I am back down at an elevation of about 450m, and you can certainly tell the difference. First of all, it is hot. Very hot. The past few days have been about 40C. Today wasn’t quite that hot. There are A/Cs almost everywhere, which is nice. I have found out how much someone can sweat without really doing anything though since there are no A/Cs in the field (except in the truck, thank goodness!). Santa Cruz is also flat, which is very different from La Paz, which is built on the side of a mountain. In general, although I haven’t seen much, I like Santa Cruz. There are lots of restaurants with patios and all kinds of shops selling ice cream and goodies!

As I mentioned, I am here helping out with emergency response in the wake of some major flooding in the region. The waters are starting to subside, but there are still a lot of people unable to return home, or afraid to because the rainy season is not yet over and it is quite likely that there will be more flooding. For the last two days I have been up early and late to bed. Today I have a few hours to relax before bed. I have no idea what the next week holds in store.

I am working with a team from the UN formed of people who specialize in disaster response, as well as people who work for various UN agencies. We were in the field conducting rapid assessments for the last few days to try to get an idea of what the situation is on the ground. There are lots of numbers floating around, but you never know what it is really like until you see it for yourself. The data is going to be used to organize a response and to present to donors to try to raise some money for that response.

The communities I visited had all been affected to some extent by the flooding. There were some places where the water was waist deep at one point. A lot of families are staying in schools and churches. Some have been provided with tents, and others are living in the back of large trucks under tarps. The road is usually the highest place through these communities, so the ‘camps’ are generally right alongside the road. A lot of people have lost a lot, specifically their crops for this season.

The water situation is not as terrible as I had expected. A lot of communities have a deep well, which shouldn’t (if it was built right) have become contaminated. There are some communities where families have open wells. We saw one that had fish living in it. And it hadn’t been flooded! The problem with open wells is that if the water is high enough it can flood the well, contaminating the water inside. The sanitation situation is worse. Where there were latrines, they have all been flooded. That means that they can’t be used again until the water goes down. It also means that the water that is pooling everywhere is contaminated with human waste. And the kids love to go swimming since it’s so hot.

That is a brief summary of what I have been up to in Santa Cruz. I’ve got some pictures, but I will have to wait to get back to La Paz to post them.