The president of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo, reported on a new landslide at kilometer 24.5 of the highway that leads from Guatemala to El Salvador, as a result of works that were being carried out without a license and due to recent rains. The passage is blocked and will be enabled until they have the studies, said the head of state.
After a first landslide recorded on Monday, the authorities deployed to carry out the work, but faced with a second landslide this Tuesday, the authorities suspended the work. The Guatemalan Army deployed several soldiers to search for a man who was buried underground. As of this writing, authorities have not reported an update on the case.
«What we are seeing in this place is the effect of a work on a hill, which as far as we understand and according to the information that the local municipality has given us, was being carried out without the corresponding licenses, that is, it did not have a license, as far as we know, nor a study of the effect that its civil work would have on the hill in the event of rain. What we are seeing is precisely the effect of the absence of information in this regard,” the president explained in a conference accompanied by authorities from the National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction (CONRED) and the National Institute of Seismology, Volcanology, Meteorology and Hydrology of Guatemala (Insivumeh).
“It reminds us of the importance and meaning of environmental impact studies and CONRED studies to really identify the risks that can be generated by some type of construction,” Arévalo added.
Days. The Humanitarian and Rescue Brigade of the Guatemalan Army was deployed in the affected area.
The president also confirmed the death of two people and more than 5,000 people affected by the rains. Insivumeh, for his part, shared the forecast that the rainfall will last until Thursday and that the rainy season will end in the last week of October or the first week of November.
In the last week, CONRED attended to 272 emergencies, mainly in the departments of Guatemala, Chiquimula and Huehuetenango.
According to the president, atypical conditions have been recorded in the territory due to the accumulation of water due to storms, but he ruled out declaring a state of calamity.
Classes in schools are not suspended either. However, the Ministry of Education published, through a statement, that it was at the discretion of parents whether or not to send their children to educational centers.
«Fathers, mothers, caregivers can decide if their daughters and sons attend classes when there are mobility limitations or safety risks derived from the rains. In these cases, no sanction will be applied to students who do not attend,” the statement reads.
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