Forest fires continue in Bolivia // Floods in Bangladesh leave 300 thousand victims

▲ Rescuers evacuate a seriously injured person from Erdaohezi village in northeastern China’s Liaoning province, which was hit by floods following torrential rains.Photo Xinhua

Sputnik

The newspaper La Jornada
Sunday, August 25, 2024, p. 22

In Bolivia, the lack of water has worsened the situation in towns hit by uncontrollable forest fires, while in Bangladesh, some 300,000 people are in emergency shelters due to the worst flooding in the country in 30 years.

In Spain, more than 2,100 deaths were recorded in connection with the heat waves that hit the country this summer.

The fires began in Bolivia on June 3, in the agro-industrial department of Santa Cruz, where 35 heat fronts have been extinguished so far.

We have fire in several areas, at least 10 forest fires in recent days says Carlos Ruddy Dorado, mayor of San Ignacio de Velasco, one of the affected towns.

The flames reached pastures and cattle fields. We tried to protect, mainly the town and the houses. The fire is persistent, it appears, it is controlled, it appears again and here we are. Wherever one walks there is also smoke.Dorado explained.

Authorities estimate that 1.7 million hectares of grasslands and vegetation have burned in the country in just three months, and the fire season lasts until October. The Bolivian government will add two aircraft to the five helicopters operating in the area, unloading water from a giant tanker or bambi bucket.

But the lack of water makes fighting the fires even more complicated. There is no drinking water due to the lack of a water treatment plant Dorado explains. There is not enough drinking water for the nearly 90,000 inhabitants of San Ignacio de Velasco and the water tanks for cattle are drying up, which is alarming the residents.

There are 42 deaths

Flooding has claimed at least 42 lives in Bangladesh and India since the start of the week, many of them due to landslides.

Eleven municipalities in the country are submerged by the overflow of six large rivers in what they call The worst floods in three decadesin the words of the director of the environmental NGO BRAC, Liakath Ali, in a statement reported by Bloomberg.

People are isolated across the country and we expect the situation to worsen as the rains continue to fall. Authorities, under the orders of Bangladesh’s new Prime Minister Mohamed Yunus, have opened more than 3,100 shelters and deployed 639 medical teams to treat victims amid constant telecommunications disruptions and enormous difficulties in accessing flooded areas.

Meanwhile, in Spain, 2,119 deaths were recorded attributable to high temperatures between July and August, according to data published yesterday by the Carlos III Health Institute.

Between August 1 and 23, the institute’s daily mortality registration system recorded 1,348 deaths attributable to heat. In July, 771 deaths were recorded due to this cause. The highest figures corresponded to people over 85 years of age.