El Salvador Landslides Kill at Least 7

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Facts

  • On Thursday, the San Salvador civil protection agency said that at least seven people had been killed in landslides caused by heavy rains. In the municipality of Huizucar, two adults and three children were killed when their home was buried.1
  • In Panchimalco, 11 miles south of the capital city of San Salvador, two people were rescued but later died at the hospital.2
  • Authorities had declared an alert for 29 coastal municipalities and all municipalities in the San Miguel area in the eastern region of the country. Residents were advised to evacuate quickly as heavy rains drenched the region.3
  • Civil Defense authorities said the country is vulnerable to landslides at this time of year due to heavy soil saturation.4
  • El Salvador's Environment Ministry has warned that the danger hasn't subsided, as there's still a risk of urban flooding and rivers washing over agricultural areas.4
  • According to an EU-funded research group, in addition to El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica have all been impacted by recent heavy rains resulting in widespread flooding and landslides.1

Sources: 1Al Jazeera, 2FOX News, 3ABC NEWS and 4Washington Post.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by The IRC. Climate change is already worsening the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Central America. Research links back-to-back hurricanes in 2020 to a changing climate, and 1.5M people were displaced as a result. El Salvador is one of 19 countries most at risk for worsening humanitarian conditions by year's end, and climate change-catalyzed disasters are playing a central role.
  • Narrative B, as provided by The Yearsproject. While climate change is a factor, it must be remembered that nearly half of the population in Central America lives in poverty. When a hurricane strikes, there is very little funding available for disaster response and recovery. Recent US policies that restrict immigration and slash agricultural aid have made the issues worse. The underlying material conditions for Central America's most vulnerable people must be remembered as a root cause of the humanitarian crisis.

Predictions