Please refer to the attached Infographic. KEY FIGURES 20K people displaced in the last month across Haiti due to violence 5K people remain in shelters after a 7. 5 earthquake in Panama 183K people projected to face Crisis-level food insecurity in the Dry Corridor MEXICO: HURRICANES Another storm is building off Mexico’s Pacific coast, which is still recovering from a run of hurricanes this season. Vance strengthened into a hurricane early on 23 October, and the US National Hurricane Center (NOAA) expects it to intensify rapidly into a major hurricane. Forecasters expect it to stay at sea, moving parallel to the coastline, but warn that a turn toward the west-central coast remains possible. Even offshore, its outer bands are forecast to bring heavy rain to coastal Guerrero and central and south-west Michoacán, where successive storms have already saturated the ground. Hurricane Trudy also stayed offshore last week, yet it still brought heavy rain and flooding to Colima state, including Manzanillo, Villa de Álvarez and the state capital, Colima. Fuelled by El Niño, this has become the most active eastern and central Pacific Hurricane season on record. Vance is the 23rd named storm across the two basins, compared with about 15 in an average season. HAITI: DISPLACEMENT Armed violence continues to drive people from their homes as it spreads beyond Port-au-Prince. According to IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix, nearly 80 per cent of Haiti’s almost 1. 5 million displaced people now live outside the capital. On 18 October, violence in the Arcahaie municipality, north of Port-au-Prince in Ouest department, forced nearly 2, 900 people to flee. In Petite Rivière de l’Artibonite, attacks since 19 October have displaced some 7, 250 more. Together with the late-September attacks in Gros Morne, which displaced more than 10, 000 people, these events have displaced more than 20, 000 people in less than a month. Most have found refuge with host families rather than in sites, placing heavy demands on communities with limited resources of their own. PANAMA: EARTHQUAKE Heavy rain is creating new risks as the response to the 9 October magnitude 7. 5 earthquake continues. On 20 October, Panama’s National Civil Protection System (SINAPROC) placed Soná and Mariato districts in Veraguas Province and Tonosí district in Los Santos Province under yellow alert due to heavy rainfall. Rain has already caused landslides on roads in Los Santos, threatening already vulnerable populations, including displaced families who continue to require shelter and basic services. As of 20 October, some 5, 000 people remain in 126 temporary shelters, mostly in Veraguas, while others are still sleeping in tents for fear of aftershocks. The earthquake has affected more than 35, 000 people and damaged over 9, 000 homes, and schools in Los Santos, Herrera, Coclé and Veraguas remain closed. Health authorities are monitoring 908 respiratory and 473 enteric cases as the rain increases the risk of disease outbreaks. CENTRAL AMERICA: FOOD INSECURITY El Niño is deepening hunger in Central America’s Dry Corridor, where prolonged drought has left farming families with failed harvests and dwindling food stocks. In the Trifinio border region shared by El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, some areas have gone up to 75 days without rain. The drought has destroyed much of the Primera maize and bean crop that households depend on to restock their grain reserves. Rising costs are adding to the losses; diesel prices in Guatemala nearly doubled between January and September. An updated Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis now projects that 183, 000 people will face Crisis (IPC Phase 3) or worse between November and March 2027, more than double the previous forecast. Guatemala’s Ch’orti’ microregion and Ocotepeque in Honduras are the worst affected.
Mexico: Latin America & The Caribbean Weekly Situation Update as of 23 October 2026
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