A Salvadoran family spent the night in a boat after the collapse of an earthen dam destroyed their home and heavy rains threatened more landslides, joining the more than 3,800 people who have had to be evacuated due to the rains that hit El Salvador since last week and that have left at least 19 dead and two missing.
Landslides and floods are the main threats that Salvadorans are facing due to heavy rains, in a country that is in a state of national emergency due to rainfall that mainly affects the coast and rural areas of the country.
One of those areas is the Joya Grande area, in the central town of Santiago Texacuangos.
“We try to organize with the community to try to avoid disasters, because we have a river and we are surrounded by mountains,” Ronald Fuentes, from the local civil protection committee, told EFE.
He said that they have organized to evacuate their neighbors due to the possible landslides to which they are exposed and that have occurred in recent days.
Among those affected, he explained, is a family of two adults and three children who live near the central lake of Ilopango.
His house was buried after the collapse of an earthen embankment or dam to contain the waters. Dedicated to fishing and tourism, they had to spend the night in a small boat docked on the shore of the lake due to the danger of more landslides.
“Every year it gets worse (…), every winter we don’t sleep here, if there is too much rain people are active in case of any emergency” and “here it is rare to find a house that is not affected by the rain, because if it is not the overflowing of the river, it’s a disaster,” Fuentes said.
In this sector alone, he commented, there live about 3,000 people who survive from tourism, agronomy and fishing, who in each rainy season face risks that become harsher when “in the area there is no presence of any (governmental) institution or the mayor’s office, practically only the community is here,” he lamented.
At least 19 dead and thousands evacuated
Official figures indicate that at least 19 people have died so far, including six minors. Among them were two girls who died buried after a landslide in the central town of Soyapango.
In addition, two people are missing and 11 were injured, while the evacuees reached 3,861, of which 1,857 are minors.
In this week of rain, 26 rivers have overflowed, and there have been 248 landslides, 23 urban floods and 183 damaged homes.
Historically, El Salvador has been affected by meteorological phenomena that cause deaths in each rainy season, among the strongest are Hurricane Mitch (1998) and the rains of November 2009.
Mitch left 240 dead and 84,005 injured in its wake, while the storms of November 7 and 8, 2009 left 199 dead.
89% of the territory is vulnerable, which “puts 95% of the population at risk and almost anything can happen to us. Volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, floods, drought, hurricanes, almost anything can happen to us,” said Luis González. , from the Salvadoran Ecological Unit (UNES).
The general director of civil protection, Luis Amaya, summarized: risk areas “will always be risk areas.”
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