[ad_1]
– We heard a crash and we saw how a landslide took all the houses and buried our neighbors. At that moment, we ran to save ourselves, says Enrique Pop, 25, to the newspaper Prensa Libre.
He fled with his mother, but when he turned around he no longer saw her. Enrique feared the worst and began searching frantically for her. Only later did he find her safely in a community near the outskirts of the town of Quejá, located in the mountainous region of Alta Verapaz in central Guatemala. Twelve of his relatives survived, but several cousins and a pair of his father’s brothers remain missing.
Storm Eta has destroyed several houses and here a highway in Pazos in Guatemala has been demolished by masses of rain.
Photo: Johan Ordonez / AFP
– Our town is located in a very quiet green area. We have never encountered anything like this before. We estimate that there are between 150 and 200 people buried in the town, says Enrique Pop.
Storm Eta was formed in the Caribbean on Tuesday and stopped over Nicaragua with winds of up to 225 kilometers per hour. When the storm reached neighboring Honduras, it had lessened in strength, but was still causing devastation. A dozen people have been confirmed dead. When the storm hit Guatemala, one of the poorest countries in Central America, it had turned into a heavy downpour. 60 percent of Guatemala’s population lives in poverty, according to the World Bank.
The country’s president, Alejandro Giammattei, has declared a state of emergency in several regions of Guatemala and says that rescue efforts are hampered by the fact that the country only has access to a rescue helicopter.
– We have many people we have not been able to reach, he tells the media.
No bodies have yet been rescued.
Flood in Panzos.
Photo: Johan Ordonez / AFP
In Honduras, the need is also great and the country’s Foreign Minister, Lisandro Rosales, is asking for help on Twitter.
“The devastation after Eta is enormous and comes at a critical time when public finances are already strained due to the pandemic. We call on the international community to accelerate the process of recovery and reconstruction, “he wrote.
The storm is expected to stop over Cuba on Sunday and the US state of Florida on Monday, according to the US hurricane center NHC.
Read more:
More than 100 people are feared to have died in a single town after storm Eta
Central America prepares for extreme drought
