Nicaragua faces many challenges not the least of which are earthquakes and weather. During the twentieth century Nicaragua suffered four major earthquakes and four hurricanes plus droughts and other floods.

• There were seventeen natural disasters in the twentieth century - one every five or six years.
• Eleven of the disasters occurred between 1972 and 2001 or one every three years.

Poorly constructed buldings suffered heavy damage in the 1972 earthquake. The struggling economy made restoration and aid a major challenge for the Nicaraguans. It is little wonder that many Nicaraguans gave up hope. The survivors faced a struggle that few of us can comprehend. Thirteen of the disasters have occurred since 1972!

Hurricane Mitch, which struck in 1998 caused over $987 million dollars in damage. Nicaragua's total budget in 2005 was only $147 million more than that. It takes many years and a great deal of outside help for this struggling country to overcome such a loss.

The loss is not only measured in dollars. These children worked in peanut fields for less than a dollar a day. Many of their parents were in other countries, such as Costa Rica, trying to earn enough money to prevent the banks forclosing on their meagre homes and farms.

Disaster	Date	Killed	Total Affected	Damage (USD '000s)
Earthquake	4-Feb-1906	1,000
Earthquake	31-Mar-1931	1,000		$15,000,000
Flood	Oct-1960	325
Epidemic	Apr-1967	53
Earthquake	23-Dec-1972	10,000	720,000	$845,000,000
Wind Storm	23-May-1982	71	52,000	$356,000,000
Hurricane Joan	22-Oct-1988	130	360,278	$400,000,000
Flood	28-May-1990		106,411
Wild Fires	15-Jan-1991			$80,000,000
Earthquake	1-Sep-1992	179		$25,000,000
Hurricane Bret	10-Aug-1993		123,000
Drought	Jul-1994		80,000	$160,000,000
Hurricane Cesar	28-Jul-1996	42		$10,000,000
Drought	22-Sep-1997		290,000
Hurricane Mitch	25-Oct-1998	3,332	868,228	$987,700,00
Flood	12-Sep-1999		107,105
Drought	Jul-2001		187,645	$40,300,000