Hurricanes Eta and Iota, which devastated regions of northeastern Nicaragua, affected more than three million people, or half of the country's total population, and caused damage estimated at $ 742 million, said Tuesday, November 24 the government of Managua.
The first hurricane, Eta, caused some $ 178 million in damage in the northeast of the country, but the nationwide Iota caused destruction estimated to cost $ 564 million, the report said. Minister of Finance Ivan Acosta.
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Eta, a category 4 hurricane on a scale of 5, hit the northeast of the country on November 3 before Iota reached Nicaragua on the 16 of the same month, with even greater violence, level 5, the maximum for a hurricane.
More than three million people were also affected by these two hurricanes out of a total population of 6.2 million, the minister said during a video conference.
Iota
"is the
most powerful
(meteorological)
event
that has ever hit Nicaragua, not only for the violence with which it struck the country, but also for its magnitude"
, said Guillermo Gonzalez, director of the National Prevention System. disasters.
The passage of Iota killed 44 people in Central America, including 21 in Nicaragua, due to floods and landslides.
The country needs emergency humanitarian aid of some $ 4 million, the government also announced.