TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
57 died in Ecuador rainy season: officials
Half a year of intense and destructive rain throughout Ecuador has left 57 dead and 110 injured.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Picture released by Ecuadorean agency API showing people removing debris during the search of victims after a landslide caused by heavy rains in Quito, on January 31, 2022. (AFP/API)
H
alf a year of intense and destructive rain throughout Ecuador has left 57 dead and 110 injured, the National Risk Management Service said Saturday.
In addition, nearly 31,000 people were affected by the rain, which caused flooding, landslides and damage to thousands of homes and hectares of farmland.
The rainy season entered its seventh month in April and is expected to intensify. Thirty people died and 87 were injured due to the rains in the Andean province of Pichincha alone, according to a report by the relief agency.
Every one of Ecuador's 24 provinces was affected -- with the exception of the Galapagos archipelago, 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) off the coast, the service said.
It said exceptionally strong and prolonged downpours had damaged or destroyed more than 5,455 hectares (13,500 acres) of farmland, as well as 7,176 homes, schools or health clinics.
A January 31 flood and landslide in capital city Quito, caused by the most torrential rainfall seen in two decades, left 28 people dead and 52 others injured.
Due to its location in the equatorial zone, Ecuador experiences just two seasons, summer and winter.
The current rainy season has caused landslides, floods and river overflows, and collapsed structures.
Scientists say climate change is intensifying the risk of heavy rain around the world because a warmer atmosphere holds more water.
