RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The rains in Bolivia have affected eight of the nine departments, 190 municipalities, and more than 52,000 families, while rescue teams are searching for two missing people and bringing humanitarian aid to the most affected regions.
The Vice Minister of Civil Defense, Juan Carlos Calvimontes, said that this “second phase of heavy rains” mainly affects the departments of La Paz, Tarija in the south of the country, the highlands of Oruro, Chuquisaca, and Cochabamba, according to a bulletin issued by the state department.
River flooding and heavy rains were reported in these regions, affecting families and communities.
So far, some 190 Bolivian communities have been affected by the persistent rains, with 52,665 families and 20,196 people involved, the vice minister said.
Calvimontes highlighted the impact in the department of La Paz, where 25 municipalities have already been affected by the rains and where climate change is affecting the highlands.
The vice-minister counted 35,300 head of livestock lost in the region, which will affect the economy of affected families and the loss of crops, which, although small, will be a blow to families.
The rains have already affected 349,264 hectares, most of which, 319,299 hectares, are in the eastern department of Santa Cruz, which is the country’s economic engine.
Calvimontes said that a landslide had affected three municipalities, particularly the municipality of Tumpeca, 40 kilometers from the Bolivian capital of Sucre, in the department of Chuquisaca, where the search is on for two people who disappeared when four houses “overflowed.”
“Today, dogs will be used to see if the weather conditions and the state of the place allow us to identify the bodies,” Calvimontes added.
“There are two missing persons, an adult person, and a girl,” Calvimontes told the media. The agency did not rule out the possibility of more missing persons “because these events are unpredictable and affect unsuspecting people.”