Editor’s note: My deepest thanks goes to Alix C., for compiling these facts, and presenting them far more eloquently than I ever could.
Facts compiled from a variety of news sources.
Guatemala declared a state of emergency on Saturday as heavy rain from Tropical Storm Agatha, which hit the Central American nation last Thursday, continued to lash the countryside.
As the new figures and images keep pouring in, it becomes obvious that the tropical storm Agatha may cause more damage in Guatemala than Hurricane Stan in 2005 or Hurricane Mitch in 1998.
At the end of the day, Sunday (5/30), these were the figures: 100 dead, 112,000 evacuees, 30,000 in shelters, 13 collapsed bridges, and numerous roads blocked by landslides or floods. Emergency routes along the southeastern border of El Salvador are beginning to be affected and may not be viable much longer.
Now a tropical depression, Agatha continues to pose problems for southeastern Mexico, Guatemala and parts of El Salvador, where life-threatening flash floods and mudslides have been forecast by the US National Hurricane Centre in Miami. The death toll climbing; Guatemalan authorities and rescuers warn that additional deaths are bound to be reported from the numerous landslides across the country.
“We are extending the state of emergency to the entire country,” President Alvaro Colom told a news conference, adding that the government was evacuating many families from at-risk areas.
Emergency workers reported that rivers were swollen by heavy rain and warned that flooding could be worse than usual due to ash from the erupting Pacaya volcano south of the capital that has blocked drainage systems. Guatemala’s Institute of Seismology, Volcanology, Meteorology and Hydrology warned that it would continue to rain until Tuesday, because the storm had slowed down and hovered over the mountains of western Guatemala.
According to Tamalyn Gutierrez of the organization Common Hope (in the US) and Familias de Esperanza (in Guatemala), as of noon on Monday, May 31, the international airport in Guatemala City is closed to commercial jet traffic through at least Thursday. Backup travelers are being promised first priority on the first flights allowed out. Travelers who are currently in safe areas of the country are encouraged not to go to the airport until the government announces that backups are subsiding.
In La Antigua, the largest town on the western border of the disaster, businesses are open. People from the flooded countryside are walking several miles over mud and buried villages to get to their jobs. At the moment, the rains in the area of Antigua have stopped and the sun is shining. This will cause different issues with dust and disease.
Squatter settlements of El Mirador and Los Cerritos (to the east of La Antigua in the municipalities of San Pedro las Huertas and San Miguel) have been mostly wiped out. Heavy rains started from up-mountain in Santa Maria de Jesus, went around San Juan de la Obispo, then went around San Petro las Huertas, taking whatever was in the water’s path. Bodies have landed in San Miguel that began several villages up mountain. See the map below, to understand the topography of the region.
View Larger Map
A disaster command center has been set up just east of Antigua and is being run by highly-trained, Guatemalan first-responders. They are doing an extremely difficult job very well, and highways are being dug out out so that relief can get through quickly and efficiently to these, the most hard-hit areas. Common Hope/Familias de Esperanza is supporting this effort.
Another command center is currently set up in San Miguel Escobar at a church called Rey de Las Naciones. This group is coordinating digging efforts and feeding people. Flood survivors are most in need of diapers, clean water, sanitary pads, flip-top food, and basic staple foods like beans, rice, etc.
Your assistance is urgently required. Please visit this post, to see a list of very effective, grass-roots groups already hard at work.
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