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At least 57 people have already died as a result of bad weather since the start of the rainy season in Ecuador.
Rain falls on the capital Quito (illustration).
AFP
The rainy season which has been accompanied by intense and destructive rainfall for six months in Ecuador has already left 57 dead and 110 injured, the National Risk Management Service announced on Saturday. The rainy season entered its seventh month in April and is expected to intensify.
Unusually heavy and prolonged downpours have already damaged or devastated more than 5,455 hectares of agricultural land, as well as more than 7,000 homes, schools or medical centers. In total, nearly 31,000 people were affected by floods, landslides and other damage. All of the country’s 24 provinces were affected except for the Galapagos archipelago, 1,000 kilometers off the coast, the service said.
The Andean province of Pichincha, with 30 dead and 87 injured, was particularly bruised. A flood and landslide on January 31 in the capital Quito, caused by torrents of water not seen in two decades, left 28 dead and 52 injured. Due to its location in the equatorial zone, Ecuador experiences only two seasons, summer and winter. Scientists believe that climate change is intensifying the risk of heavy rain around the world because a warmer atmosphere holds more water.
(AFP)
