Helping Families Displaced by Floods in Colombia
Severe historic flooding has displaced tens of thousands of families across Colombia’s Córdoba Province where a month’s worth of rain fell in 14 hours during the country’s dry season. Homes and businesses were destroyed. Large swaths of valuable farmland were under water for days at a critical time of year for area agriculture.
Homes, businesses, and farmland alike were consumed by floods in northern Colombia, forcing thousands of families to flee at a moment’s notice.
Families fled to nearby towns for refuge, leaving behind all they owned, as the Sinú River and its tributaries overflowed their banks and poured into neighbourhood streets.
They’ve arrived exhausted, hungry, and sick with nowhere left to turn.
Samaritan’s Purse has met these hurting families in their time of need with essential resources such as medicine, food, clean water, and—most importantly—the message of the Gospel in such uncertain times.
Our teams are on the ground in 12 counties working alongside dozens of church partners who have been faithfully serving their communities since the storm cleared.
“I am renewed when I see the faces of the pastors when they leave full of joy as they go off to their church,” said Oscar Guevara, a programme coordinator with Samaritan’s Purse leading this response. “The work is hard, but the reward comes from the Lord.”
Samaritan’s Purse is on the ground in Colombia, working through local church partners to get food, water, and medicine to the families hardest hit by recent floods.
So far we’ve delivered over 3,000 food kits containing 50 pounds each of food items to feed a family of four. We’ve also provided communities with thousands of gallons of potable water. Our response will continue for the coming months among more than 30,000 Colombians who remain uprooted by this disaster.
Mobile Medicine for Flood-Weary Colombians
Displaced families have also been cut off from medical resources while facing a dangerous heat wave and extreme humidity. A Samaritan’s Purse mobile medical unit has been working in the region since the storm and has already treated more than 7,000 patients and helped provide many Colombians with vital prescription medications lost in the floods.
The Samaritan’s Purse mobile medical unit arrived to Córdoba shortly after the floods receded. The roving clinic is stocked to treat immediate health needs wherever disaster strikes.
Each consultation is an opportunity to introduce Jesus to people looking for hope, according to Adriana Iglesias, a mobile medical team member.
“People have every reason to despair having lost so much,” Iglesias said. “Yet we were able to bring a message of hope, giving thanks to God for life, and showing the love of Jesus in every moment of assistance, even amid the devastation and uncertainty.”
The Gospel is central to every interaction Adriana Iglesias and Samaritan’s Purse staff have with those in desperate need of hope amid life’s storms.
An 85-year-old patient named Amira, born and raised in Córdoba, was stunned by how rapidly the floods intensified.
“There was water everywhere,” she said. “It was like lighting. It came and went just like that. I lost my animals: a sow, a piglet, and some chicks. There was no time. It all happened in less than a minute.”
A Samaritan’s Purse medical staffer helps Amira onto the mobile medical unit for her consultation where she received medicine and a comprehensive health check-up.
Amira boarded our mobile medical unit where she received treatment, prescription medicine, and a supply of food. “They treated me so well,” she said as she left.
Another to enter our clinic was Sandra, a young mother with two sons ages 2 and 6. She was out buying school supplies for her children when the rains came and the floodwaters rose. She returned home in the afternoon to water at her waist.
Her children were inside with their disabled father and 80-year-old grandfather. They had no time to salvage any of their belongings as they escaped the home suddenly engulfed in water.
The boys grew ill from the floodwaters, and we treated them with deworming medicine and other antibiotics.
“I had never heard of Samaritan’s Purse until today, but I needed this,” the 23-year-old mother said. “I am very thankful for the help I have received.”
Sandra and her two boys were treated by our staff, who reminded the weary mother that she is not forgotten by God.
Multiplying the Work of Partner Churches Faithfully Serving Córdoba in Jesus’ Name
Across the hard-to-access region, Samaritan’s Purse relies on local pastors to help identify those in need and spread the word that help has arrived.
“This is something wonderful that God has done because we can bring both physical and spiritual help,” said Pastor Saudi Tano, who worked with Samaritan’s Purse to bring supplies to families cut off by the floods. “This food is good, and we can declare to people that it is God Who provides in the midst of need.”
Dozens of local pastors loaded Samaritan’s Purse food bundles onto vehicles to distribute to their own hurting communities deeper within the flooded region.
In the early weeks of this response, Samaritan’s Purse staff and local church partners have shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ with thousands of Colombians and provided hundreds of copies of God’s Word.
As we provided a man named Francisco with desperately needed medications, the seed of the Gospel fell on fertile soil in his heart. He’d lost everything and was forced to take shelter along the road. Then he found our teams. We gave Him a Bible and encouraged Him from God’s Word, pointing him to the only true rescue.
Francisco received Jesus Christ as Lord through the witness of our staff and the power of the Holy Spirit. He left our clinic with much-needed medicine and a new heart.
As we supplied him with medicine, we also encouraged Him from God’s Word and pointed to the true Rescuer, Jesus Christ.
We praise God that he accepted Christ as Lord and Saviour. We provided him with his own Bible, urging him to seek after God through the Word of God.
“In my hand, I have a Bible and a prescription, and today I received the Lord,” he said.
Samaritan’s Purse teams will continue to help families recover after historic floods in the coming months, while sharing the hope of the Gospel along the way.
Be in prayer for the people of northern Colombia. Samaritan’s Purse will continue to serve in the region for months to come, providing food, water, medicine, and tangible hope in Jesus’ Name. Pray that many, like Francisco, would make Jesus the Lord of their life.
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