In the last week of October 1998, Hurricane Mitch crossed central America with winds up to 180 mph and eight days of rain.  When the storm ended, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador were left with several thousand dead, millions of homeless and severe damage to roads, bridges, utilities and agriculture.  US Military response began immediately as Joint Task Force (JTF) Bravo, which had weathered the storm in Honduras, began search and rescue operations as soon as they could fly helicopters.  JTF Bravo was quickly augmented and tasked with relief operations in Honduras, while JTF Aquila (Eagle) was established to conduct operations in Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador.  Forces began deploying in mid-November.
    The Marine Corps contribution to these JTFs was centered on the 8th Engineer Support Battalion (ESB) from the II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune North Carolina.  When Mitch struck, 8th ESB was in the process of returning from disaster relief operations in Puerto Rico.  With the Battalion Command Element still aboard ship, the Battalion’s assets were split between hastily formed Combat Service Support Detachments (CSSD) 68 and 69 for support of JTFs Bravo and Aquila, respectively.  As a company commander in 8th ESB, I was assigned as the engineer officer to CSSD 69.  With little information available about the situation in theater, I was sent to Comalapa AirBase, El Salvador as an advanced party.
    When I arrived, there were less than 20 Americans in the JTF.  Initial assessments had been made and it had been decided that CSSD 69 would support Air Force engineers  in Guatemala, Army engineers in Nicaragua, and be the lead for operations in El Salvador.  I was tasked to find projects that CSSD 69 could accomplish within the scope of our capabilities and projected timeline.  With the JTF Civil Affairs Officer, I accompanied a team from USAID, OFDA, USDA and the Salvadoran Ministry of Health on a four-day tour of the country.  We found two types of problems: major transportation network damage that isolated communities, and areas with no access to safe drinking water.
    Several NGOs and the Salvadoran Government were busily fixing roads and bridges but the lack of clean water was largely ignored.  USAID was establishing a contract with the NGO CARE for long-term water assurance but in the short term water borne diseases were becoming prevalent.  The main problem was in rural, coastal areas  flooded during the hurricane.  These communities relied on open wells, which were contaminated with sewage, debris and other flotsam.  Providing these areas with safe water became our primary mission.
    As the CSSD arrived, we sent teams into villages with the greatest need.  Marines made pure water with Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Units (ROWPUs), repaired pipe systems and cleaned wells.  At first CARE was antagonistic towards us, fearing that we were competing for USAID money.  Once they realized we weren’t, we established a close working relationship with CARE.  We provided safe water to areas while CARE took over well cleaning and educating people on water safety.  Our medical teams were able to test water and verify that wells were safe to use after CARE had cleaned them. 
    Redeploying, the CSSD left behind chemicals, cleaning equipment and printed well cleaning and testing procedures, which CARE used to start a safe water training program.  Hurricane Mitch provided a brief example of how the US Military, US Government, a Host Government and NGOs can work following a disaster to create a synergy, maximizing each organizations strengths to provide the best benefit to the effected population.