Post by Rosemary Burnett

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Photo: Rosemary Burnett

Don Pedro stands stiffly to attention outside his makeshift tented house, a survivor of the mudslide which engulfed the small community of Panabaj in Guatemala in October 2005. In a way, he was one of the lucky ones - only one of his five children perished in the wave of mud and boulders which buried some 600 people as they slept. Sadly, his thirteen year old son ran back to get his savings of £4 and was swept into a partly excavated septic tank and buried alive.

Others lost 11 or 12 members of their family and are standing at the edge of the exhumation site looking to see whether their loved ones will be identified amongst the bodies being unearthed. Clothes and possessions are unearthed by the giant excavating machines, then gathered by relatives to be buried with their former owners. Particularly sad are the elderly, who wonder why they survived when their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren perished.

Initially it was estimated that 1400 were missing, but this was later reassessed at 600 as survivors reappeared and today it is reckoned that about 150 people are still buried beneath 4 metres of mud. The mudslide hit in the middle of the night, and the forensic archaeologists are finding family groups huddled together. Detailed records are taken from the survivors of distinguishing characteristics of a missing loved one – perhaps a gold tooth, or a leg broken in infancy. The landscape has changed so much – what was once a pleasant wooded valley has become a desert of mud and rocks so that orientation of the houses is difficult and the relatives are often unable to give clear directions as to the distances between them. In the confusion of that night, it is sometimes hard to remember which child was sleeping where. Sometimes a child is found swept downstream and far from his or her own home.

Visitors from overseas can see at a glance that donations from overseas have provided all sorts of emergency necessities for the survivors. Oxfam’s logo is prominently displayed on the latrines and the European Union’s stars are stuck to water tanks. Houses are made of crude wooden frames whose walls are made up of fabric with the legend “A gift from the people of the United States of America”. But the fact remains that more than a year after the event, people are still living in temporary accommodation, though infrastructure such as roads and bridges have been repaired.

Yet after Hurricane Stan, money poured in to Guatemala, most notably from the Spanish government. Why are people still living in temporary shelters? The government have actually built new breeze block homes, but they have built them on land which was subjected to a similar mud slide in the 1950s. Families want to live somewhere safe where a tidal wave of mud will not carry away their loved ones.

Just after I left Panabaj, on 8^th January, 38 bodies were buried. The Mayan people have a remarkable resilience when it comes to dealing with death. They believe that the spirits of their dead will watch over them and give them guidance in their lives. It is important to maintain a dialogue with the departed, and every Monday families go to the graveyard to light candles and honour the spirits of their ancestors. At least now, the families of the 38 victims will have a grave to visit.

Update (16-02-2007)

This from CERIGUA:

Update (26-02-2007)

This from Siglo XXI which says according to NGO Accion Ciudadana, the Guatemalan government hasn't finished any housing for families affected by Stan- with 80% of the affected families still living in temporary accommodation:

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This article was originally printed in The Big Issue Scotland