The State of Emergency Continues in E.S. with the Refugee Count Now Over 32,000

            It has been ten days since the torrential rains began in El Salvador. The death toll has unfortunately increased from four to thirty two over weekend, as the rains continue to fall effecting more than 150,000 people. On the bright side, the weather station delivered the only good news in the past ten days. A cold front from the north is expected to move in tonight (Wednesday night), bringing with it some dry air to weaken the rains by Thursday.

            The number of refugees now totals over 32,000, with 21,500 staying in the 232 shelters across the country, and the remaining 10,500 staying with friends and family. The Civil Protection reports that the problem is now evolving from emergency rescue to caring for those that have lost everything (houses, possessions, crops and animals, and means of production) in the floods and landslides. Close to 20,000 houses have been damaged or destroyed over the past ten days, leaving many with the daunting task of rebuilding their lives. In response to this, the national Legislature has declared a state of public calamity, which will allow for resources to be redistributed to the rebuilding process. This declaration is also intended to compel citizens to volunteer without promise of “just compensation”.

            Although preventative actions were taken to keep the death toll low, it none the less climbed to 32 over the weekend. This is in large part due to those areas where evacuation was “advised” by mayors but not enforced. In many areas, such as the municipality of Mejicanos, people refuse to leave their homes. In fact a team of 100 was sent in to try and persuade the 4,000 residents to evacuate, but were only able to convince 500. This reluctant attitude is also shared by local officials. Some mayors have scheduled an evacuation operation but canceled it due to “excessive risk to municipal staff”. Others have even gone so far to say that demanding their community to evacuate would be crazy, and that they will take their own appropriate punitive measures. It is this reluctance that caused the climb in deaths over the weekend as several slopes and dams collapsed.

            The amount of rain that has fallen over the past 10 days is phenomenal. The historical record for rainfall of any country during a storm was 861 mm, which was the record set by Hurricane Mitch in 1998. To put this in perspective, the average annual rainfall for El Salvador lies between 1.400-2.00 mm. The total rainfall from the past ten days has more than marginally surpassed this record, and has come close to surmounting the annual amount at over 1.20 mm.

            Needless to say the Salvadorans are in need of any and all support. So please, keep them in your thoughts in prayers as they work to recover and rebuild.