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Guatemala City (AFP) June 2, 2010 Storm-rattled Guatemalans attempted to retrieve belongings Wednesday as officials delivered food aid after a devastating Tropical Storm Agatha left 183 people dead across the region. Scores of countries have offered aid to Guatemala, worst hit by the first eastern Pacific tropical storm of the season that left 156 people dead and another 103 people missing in the Central American country alone. Another 17 people in Honduras and 10 in El Salvador were among those who lost their lives as Agatha slammed the region with torrential rain, unleashing mudslides and raising rivers that washed away thousands of homes. "We're taking advantage of the rain stopping to see if we can remove all the mud that built up on the driveway of our house," Julio Figueroa told AFP, saying walls of mud had prevented him from checking on his belongings. President Alvaro Colom said some 685 tons of food aid had been delivered to the massive number of displaced persons, with around 79,000 people seeking shelter from the storm. Among the 18 countries that offered aid, Brazil sent 20,000 tonnes of corn and 5,000 tonnes of rice, Argentina sent 16 tonnes of rice, Cuba offered a team of medics and the United States sent six support helicopters from a base in Honduras to aid with recovery efforts. The European Union gave 2.4 million dollars in emergency assistance. The World Bank has also said it was finalizing an 85-million-dollar loan to help Guatemala cope with the aftermath of the storm and a volcanic eruption. Officials meanwhile said a sinkhole that swallowed an entire three-story building in the capital resulted from an overwhelming amount of water in the soil caused by Agatha's rains mixing with an unusual level of porous sand, after a volcanic eruption last week blanketed the region with ash and rocks. No casualties were reported from the sinkhole, 21 meters (69 feet) in diameter and 31 meters (102 feet) deep, because the building was not occupied at the time. A 100-meter (330-foot) evacuation zone has been put in place around the hole in the densely populated neighborhood, with residents only allowed in to retrieve belongings until authorities can determine the ground's stability.
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'Immense challenge' to rebuild Haiti, president tells donorsPunta Cana, Dominican Republic (AFP) June 2, 2010 Haiti faces an "immense challenge" to rebuild after January's earthquake, President Rene Preval told a donors' conference Wednesday called to speed payment of billions of dollars in pledges. Recovery projects to be financed with the 10 billion dollars promised from an initial donors' meeting in New York in March will produce "a more decentralized, fairer Haiti," Preval told the event in the ... read more |
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