Desolation in Guatemala after Hurricane Eta
Several villages in northern Guatemala, most of them indigenous, remain isolated due to the flooding and grounding caused last week by the Eta tropical depression, various sources confirmed Thursday.
The National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction (Conred) has estimated that 649,000 people have been affected by the weather phenomenon, most of them in the departments of Alta Verapaz, Izabal, Petén, Quiché and Huehuetenango, located in the northern part of the territory.
"The registration and assessment of damage in different sectors continues," said Conred spokesman David de León in statements to journalists.
De León explained that work is still underway to deliver food by air to a number of villages that have been isolated due to underground water and flooding that has blocked the road access route.
As of the last update on Thursday, Guatemala's civil protection authorities counted 46 people killed and 96 missing in the rains of the Eta tropical depression during the first week of November.
The Guatemalan government also said on Thursday through its communication channels that 629,000 pounds of food had been delivered, mainly in Izabal and Alta Verapaz.
The situation, however, is complicated for thousands of people, according to the non-governmental organization Alianza por la Solidaridad, because in Alta Verapaz the population "is suffering doubly, both from the effects of Hurricane Eta and from the abandonment of the authorities".
According to a press release from the humanitarian organisation, the situation has been "aggravated by the existence of seven hydroelectric installations in the region" that "after hoarding the water were forced to release it, without warning the communities, flooding and destroying dozens of villages and thousands of hectares of farmland.
On Wednesday, the Guatemalan Red Cross stressed at a press conference that until that day they were continuing their rescue work for people at risk in Eta, as several villages in the north of the territory remain totally flooded due to excessive rainfall.
"In Guatemala, the water has not yet come down in some communities that have been totally flooded, where not a single house has been left in good condition," said the president of the Guatemalan Red Cross, Anabella Folgar.
On Tuesday, authorities had already announced the suspension of search and rescue of bodies and survivors in the village of Quejá, located in Alta Verapaz, 200 kilometres north of Guatemala City.
The definitive suspension of work is due to the fact that conditions in the sector are "very unstable" and there is "high soil saturation," in the words of Conred spokesman David de León.
Eight bodies and four injured people were rescued on the spot, and the authorities officially estimate that 88 people are missing under the rubble of the avalanche, which buried approximately 150 houses.
Another village at risk is Sacsi Chitaña, also in Alta Verapaz, where the Guatemalan government said on Tuesday that three humanitarian flights were made to deliver food, because it is totally flooded and isolated by land.
Guatemala called on Wednesday for international support for the more than 600,000 people affected by Eta as "the national response capacity has been exceeded".
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched an "international appeal" to be able to deal with the impact of Eta in at least a dozen of the 22 departments affected by the heavy rains that damaged and destroyed infrastructure, homes and destroyed crops, vegetables and large plantations.
Eta made landfall on Tuesday 3 November in Nicaragua as a powerful hurricane and after arriving in Honduras as a tropical depression it finally left Central America on Friday 6. However, its destructive passage adds up to just over 140 dead or missing in Guatemala.
