Bolivia Declares State of Emergency Over El Niño-Driven Droughts and Floods

Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz has declared a state of emergency to address the damage caused by extreme weather conditions linked to El Niño. The announcement was made on Saturday, allowing the government to rapidly mobilize funds and resources to tackle the crisis. The AFP reported.

El Niño has triggered severe weather changes across Bolivia, with some regions experiencing floods while others face drought. President Paz said the emergency declaration would enable authorities to respond more quickly and deploy additional rescue teams to affected areas.

Addressing the nation, Paz said the declaration includes instructions to increase the deployment of rescue personnel in disaster-hit regions.

“El Niño could cause extremely severe conditions, including droughts and floods. Cooperation from all government agencies and relevant institutions is essential to tackling this crisis,” he said.

A government report released earlier this week stated that droughts have affected approximately 78,000 families in six of Bolivia’s nine administrative departments. More than 75,000 livestock have also died due to the drought.

El Niño is a natural climate phenomenon characterized by unusually warm sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. It disrupts normal patterns of atmospheric circulation, air pressure and rainfall across the world.

The United Nations warned earlier this week that the current El Niño could become more severe than previous events, potentially triggering widespread disasters across Latin America, eastern and southern Africa, Asia and the Pacific region.

The effects are already being felt in Bolivia’s neighboring countries. In Peru, rising temperatures and wildfires have been reported, with at least 12 people killed in the fires.

Meanwhile, Santiago, the capital of neighboring Chile, recorded its highest rainfall for October in the country’s meteorological history.