‘We can’t live like this’: climate shocks rain down on Honduras’s poorest

Rural communities like Chapagua that have done least to stoke the climate crisis barely have time to recover from one disaster before another hits

It was around dusk on the third consecutive day of heavy rain when the River Aguan burst its banks and muddy waters surged through the rural community of Chapagua in north-east Honduras, sweeping away crops, motorbikes and livestock.

Most inhabitants fled to higher ground after the category 4 Hurricane Eta made landfall in early November 2020, but fisherman Rosendo Garcia stayed behind, hoping to safeguard the family's home and animals. After a ravine on the opposite side of the village also flooded, there was no way out.