Fires consume 900 hectares in southern Ecuador // In the Philippines a super typhoon makes landfall

▲ Sarah It has left one person dead and 47,421 affected in its passage through the Catracha nation.Photo Ap

Prensa Latina, Sputnik and Xinhua

La Jornada Newspaper
Sunday, November 17, 2024, p. 19

San Pedro Sula. A tropical storm hits Central America, forest fires devastate large areas in South America, while in Southeast Asia a super typhoon made landfall yesterday.

One dead and 47,421 affected by the tropical cyclone Sarah after passing through Honduras, reported the Secretariat of National Risk and Contingency Management (Copeco). The storm remained stopped over the Catracha nation yesterday, devastating the northern coast of the country, increasing the water level of the rivers and causing several people to be trapped in their homes.

Continuous rains fell in the city of San Pedro Sula, consequently access to an entire community was blocked when a bridge collapsed over a river.

Meanwhile, the United States National Hurricane Center warned that there is a possibility of potentially deadly flash floods and landslides in the region over the weekend.

The Honduran authorities extended the red alert to the entire northern area and the coast of the Caribbean Sea due to the effects of Sarahand they kept the rest of the country in yellow and green.

The storm is moving towards Belize where directors of the Department of Emergency Management together with the Minister of Defense, Óscar Mira, lead the deployment of a contingent with police, members of the coast guard and military who have the mission of transporting the vulnerable population to safe locations, safeguarding property and other damage prevention tasks. Sarah It also threatens southern Mexico with intense rains.

They are looking for arsonists

In Ecuador, the fires recorded in the south of the territory consumed more than 900 hectares of the Cajas National Park, reported Cristian Zamora, mayor of the city of Cuenca, capital of the province of Azuay, where this protected reserve is located. There are three main fires within the park, each of them has already consumed more than 300 to 350 hectares of foresthe pointed out.

He added that complaints were filed with the provincial prosecutor’s office against the alleged perpetrators of the conflagrations and announced that more evidence will be provided to help complete the investigation; We need these people to be imprisoned. There are names, there are messages, there is information, there are testimonieshe accused.

Meanwhile, the super typhoon Pepito made landfall in the Philippine province of Catanduanes, in the east of the Asian nation, which was already in a state of emergency due to the imminent arrival of the category 5 storm that threatened sustained winds of up to 240 kilometers per hour, the meteorological office warned. national.

At the moment, more than 650 thousand people left their homes in search of shelter before the arrival of the cyclone, which already recorded waves of 14 meters high in the surroundings of Catanduanes.

In the five storms that hit the Philippines in recent weeks, at least 163 people have died and thousands more were left homeless.