Events in October had the country in a state of turmoil. The Ilamatepec volcano erupted on October 1st in the Santa Ana/Sosonate area. Torrential downpours from hurricane Stan began October 4th. This led to rivers overflowing, low-lying flooding, and landslides which blocked roads and isolated many communities. Small towns and villages were overwhelmed with thousands of people seeing their homes destroyed. People were forced to flee and find shelter in makeshift refugee centers.

Things began improving after two weeks. As of Oct. 18th the National Emergency Council reported that the number of persons in 388 remaining shelters dropped to just over 36,000 from some 80,000 refugees. These numbers continue to shrink as time passes. As far as our little corner of El Salvador is concerned, Zaragoza was not as hard hit as many areas. Highways affected by landslides were shut down for a time preventing travel into and out of the area but at this time these are all open. COAR itself received little damage with only telephone and internet problems. School was suspended for two weeks, but the semester resumed and the students left for the winter break November 4th.