Re: What effects will hurricane Mitch have Honduras in the furture?

Meagan:

Due to the massive effect that Hurricane Mitch had on the people living in 
Honduras, there has not been much study given to the environmental damage.

A lot of the problems that were caused by Mitch had to do with previous 
years of deforestation and the way that the land was used.

The only answers that I can give at this time are the following:

1) Since ecotourism is one of the big industries that Honduras has, every 
effort is being made to survey the damage in those areas.  There is also a 
movement to try and reforest those areas that were hardest hit.

Links to further information can be found at: 
http://www.cnr.colostate.edu/orgs/saf/honduras.htm
http://www.hondurasmitch.com/ 
http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/VP_Wife/trips/careport.html

2) Information on the effects of Hurricane Inniki on the islands of Hawaii 
show a dramatic comeback in the ecosystem in just 6 years. Similar 
information from previous natural catastrophes show similar recovery (for 
example, look at the recovery in Yellowstone Park after the fires).

The environment in Honduras will eventually recover - within the limits 
allowed by man's exploitation of that environment.  It would probably be 
hard to see the effects of Mitch (barring future disasters to the same 
region) within 10-15 years.

James Powell