The president of Bolivia, Rodrigo Paz, has proclaimed this Saturday the national emergency due to the climatological phenomenon of El Niño, requesting the support of the international community after 63 communities have already been affected.
Paz has explained that El Niño, a natural phenomenon characterized by the anomalous warming of the waters of the equatorial Pacific Ocean, causes extreme rains, floods, as well as intense droughts and forest fires, and has underscored that its effects are beginning to be felt in different areas of the country. Faced with this situation, he has announced the mobilization of economic and human resources to deal with its consequences.
"Unlike other years when we waited for the blow of the environment to arrive, we have taken a decision, with international cooperation and with national efforts, to add the economic and human resources to deal with this phenomenon," Paz has indicated in statements collected by the Bolivian newspaper 'El Deber'.
The objective of the Bolivian Executive is to anticipate the advance of this phenomenon, which "will have very hard blows" due to the droughts and floods forecast, and for that reason it warns that the "cooperation of all the institutions, regional governments, municipalities and especially of every Bolivian" will be indispensable.
The head of State has insisted that they will put their "greatest effort" so that the drought, which is already affecting several regions, and the future floods cause the "least possible impact".
According to what Paz has detailed, for now 63 communities "are already suffering" and have officially been declared in a situation of drought, while other localities are preparing in the face of the risk of floods in the coming months.