INFORMAT ION ON THE SITUATION OCCURING IN THE COMMUN I T I ES OF BAJO LEMPA, JIQU IL ISCO Our friends in solidarity we report that, throughout the night of October 12 our rescue workers have been working to evacuate the communities of El Ángel, La Casona, Los Lotes de Babilonia, which were isolated by the Lempa River’s overflow which began near the community Los Lotes.
About 40 families have not been able to evacuate because they are located in an area that cannot be accessed by land, it is only accessible by air or sea. A team of rescue commandos from ACUDESBAL is moving to the community by boat to establish contact with them. We have lost communications with the communities since 3:00 am today.
There is a refuge located in the village of El Angel where 130 people who were evacuated from communities El Ángel, La Casona, Los Lotes de Babilonia are staying. While these people have shelters but they are in urgent need of basic essentials such as; food, toiletries, and medicine for cutaneous and subcutaneous diseases. According to the forecasts from the Civil Protection and SNET, it will continue to rain for 24 additional hours, this coupled with already high water level in the flood-prone Lempa River will increase the level of flooding that we have in the 29 communities in Bajo Lempa. The presence of heavy floods has overwhelmed and penetrated into the communities, currently several organizations (ACUDESBAL, Commandos Rescue, Red Cross, Mangle Association, City of Jiquilisco, Human Rights, PNC) are providing assistance to those affected by the crisis. They have decided to perform a mass evacuation of the area and send the families to safe havens in San Marcos Lempa, Tierra Blanca and Jiquilisco.
Contact Information: Con ACUDESBAL,JoséSantos Guevara Maradiaga, Phone Number: 7210-1997 y 2632-3425, E-mail: acudesbal@gmail.com
INFORMAT ION ON THE SITUATION OCCURING IN THE COMMUN I T I ES OF BAJO LEMPA, JIQU IL ISCO We want to show that the main cause overflow of the River Lempa, is caused by the partial collapse of the 15
of September hydroelectric dam. It has not been possible for the Executive Committee of the Rio Lempa Hydroelectric CEL, to provide support in the construction of protection works, they seem to bother by the need to spend a few dollars out of the hundreds of millions in profits they make each year, from the over-exploit natural resources, and endangering the lives of thousands of poor families that live in Bajo Lempa. The Ministry of Agriculture, shows their lack of political will to comprehensively address the problem of flooding at the national level and specifically in the Bajo Lempa region, this assertion was grounded in the extensive misconduct at the time of repairs to the damaged parts of the dam, which are devoid of professional workmanship and technical quality, this happens to align with the economic resource rather than the study and design of the work, due to the first flood of the river and increased landfill discharges which made the hydroelectric dam collapse.
Contact Information: Con ACUDESBAL,JosĂŠSantos Guevara Maradiaga, Phone Number: 7210-1997 y 2632-3425, E-mail: acudesbal@gmail.com
INFORMAT ION ON THE SITUATION OCCURING IN THE COMMUN I T I ES OF BAJO LEMPA, JIQU IL ISCO
While these scenes are occurring the people of the Bajo Lempa communities are suffering the effects caused by the floods and after previously having abundant crops now have to beg for humanitarian aid, which based on previous experiences is not being provided by the government authorities, nor is it being provided by the CEL. We call on President Mauricio Funez, to properly inform himself and make the necessary decisions to reduce the crisis being experienced by our people by providing immediate attention. To our friends from the national and international community who have always identified with the sufferings of our people, be alert and look for alternatives contribution to these people in need. The intervention must be given in three stages; currently we require food, toiletries, and medications for cutaneous and subcutaneous skin diseases. Later campaigns will require a decontamination of the entire area, elimination of vectors, drain cleaning, spraying, among others, and finally restart food production, focusing on in communities that have lost everything, to prevent a famine from; afterwards we will share the results of the EDAN JosĂŠ Santos Guevara. Executive Director of ACUDESBAL.
Contact Information: Con ACUDESBAL,JosĂŠSantos Guevara Maradiaga, Phone Number: 7210-1997 y 2632-3425, E-mail: acudesbal@gmail.com