Bolivia: ‘It’s hard to predict how much higher the water will rise’

By the Climate Centre

IFRC-DREF has raised very nearly half a million Swiss francs for emergency response in Bolivia where continuous rainfall since last November triggered severe floods, landslides and widespread devastation across the entire country.

The situation deteriorated from the start of this year, and the government declared a national emergency last month.

The new IFRC-DREF operation will enable the Bolivian Red Cross to assist 2,300 families, or approximately 11,500 people, affected by the floods in 22 towns and cities.

Bolivia’s President Luis Arce declared the emergency on 26 March after the floods left more than 50 people dead and displaced more than 100,000 across the country, Reuters reported.

Additional supplies

The news agency described the rain as “some of the most intense in decades [leaving] soy fields and ranches underwater, putting at risk exports to overseas markets and pushing up local food prices.”

The Bolivian rainy season typically runs from November to March, but the news agency quoted a cattle rancher in the rural Beni department, Gunther Amatller, as saying: “The flooding we are experiencing right now is very unusual, very severe for this time of year. The water just keeps rising. It’s hard to predict how much higher it will rise.” Cattle and herders alike were forced to swim to higher ground.

All nine of Bolivia’s departmental regions have been affected by the rains.

The state of emergency will allow the government to purchase additional relief supplies, while the army has been deployed to distribute aid to badly affected areas countrywide.

Bolivian Red Cross volunteers helped people to safety after earlier floods in the Beni department, again the scene of a major flood disaster. (File photo: Bolivian Red Cross via IFRC)