IMAP is continuing to play a vital role in the recuperation process post-Hurricane Stan in Guatemala. Currently, the focuses of their hurricane relief program are three-fold. In the area of water sanitation, IMAP has provided water purification and is reestablishing water systems in the 100 communities whose water systems were destroyed in the hurricance. Members of IMAP are working towards long-term solutions in the area of food security. Using non-hybrid open-pollinated seeds donated from the U.S. and from their already established native seed bank, they will be implementing community gardens for victims of the disaster and look to provide courses on sustainable agriculture techniques emphasizing the methods of permaculture. The third component of their hurricane relief program deals with risk management and prevention. In collaboration with natural disaster experts, IMAP is researching the causes and aid responses to the destruction caused by Hurricane Stan. They will use their findings to produce a manual of guidelines and proposals for hurricane mitigation to be distributed to local NGOs, community leaders, and government officials.

IMAP’s work with a post-Hurricane Stan refugee community turned a build-up of unwanted refuse into a productive banana-circle