El Salvador declares national emergency due to rains

The Salvadoran Congress declared a state of national emergency on Tuesday due to the damage caused by the passage of Hurricane Bonnie, which has caused floods that have killed two people, lost crops, damaged homes and hundreds of landslides, while the torrential rains continue hit the country.

The decree for a period of 15 days was approved with the votes of 65 of the 84 deputies of the Unicameral Congress. Legislators from opposition political parties did not support him.

With this decree, the government of President Nayib Bukele can make use of all the necessary resources, without the endorsement of Congress, and will be able to make direct purchases without applying the Public Administration Procurement and Contracting Law (LACAP).

The opposition parties questioned the government because they claim that it is seeking access to financial resources under the pretext of damage caused by the rains.

The constant rains have shown in El Salvador, the high degree of vulnerability that the country has and the lack of comprehensive public policies to attend to these territories, according to the assessment of Adalberto Blanco, member of the Table for Food Sovereignty.

“The last storms in an hour caused 200 emergencies in the metropolitan area of ​​San Salvador, which shows a high vulnerability and a lack of preparation and forward-looking vision of risk management,” said Blanco.

According to the Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources, Fernando López, the constant rains in El Salvador will continue this week.

“Rains are expected, why, because we have the approach of a tropical wave, so basically this is what we have at the moment, for the next 48 hours, Hurricane “Bonnie” is located 400 kilometers southwest of Zihuatanejo, Mexico” Lopez said.

The government assures that it articulates actions to attend to the emergency and that it maintains 32 shelters ready, of which six have received families that were evacuated from marginal urban communities where they have suffered the greatest impact due to landslides and floods.

[Con información de The Associated Press y Reuters]

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