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Bolivia drafts plans to evacuate flood-hit city
26 Feb 2007 01:03:00 GMT
Source: Reuters
By David Mercado

TRINIDAD, Bolivia, Feb 25 (Reuters) - The Bolivian government is drawing up plans to evacuate the northeastern city of Trinidad, which has over 90,000 inhabitants, if devastating flooding worsens, President Evo Morales said on Sunday.

The worst floods to strike Bolivia in 25 years have isolated Trinidad and killed some 35 people. Officials fear the floodwaters may spill over a dike surrounding the city.

"We have instructed the authorities to draft a plan to evacuate Trinidad in case the water keeps rising, because if the water flows over the dike, the whole of Trinidad will be under water, it will be washed away," Morales said during a trip to the central Cochabamba region, according to state news agency ABI.

The capital of Beni province, Trinidad is surrounded by a roadway that acts as a dike protecting the city from the frequent floods. Residents say the water is rising about 2 inches (5 cm) a day and it is only a matter of time before it flows over the dike.

Hundreds of people have already abandoned their swamped homes and are now living in tents outside Trinidad, while others have taken refuge in churches and schools.

The government says some 350,000 Bolivians are suffering the hardships of extreme weather triggered by El Nino, an oscillation of marine-atmospheric systems characterized by warm surface waters in the eastern Pacific, aggravated by global warming.

Morales blamed the flooding on industrialized nations "that pollute the environment and change the weather."

Heavy rains have also affected the eastern province of Santa Cruz, the country's agricultural heartland, washing out some 494,000 acres (200,000 hectares) of crops -- including 383,000 acres (155,000 hectares) of soy, the main agricultural export.

Aid from countries including the United States, Italy, Venezuela, Peru and Argentina, is arriving. But the destruction to the roads and a shortage of aircraft mean it cannot reach many of the affected areas.
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A view of the Cerro Rico mine (background) is seen in Potosi, some 600 km (373 miles) south of La Paz, in this March 2003 file photo. Rebel miners seized control of Bolivia's largest silver mine on April 2, 2007, protesting against government plans to close part of the mine, which authorities say is at risk of collapsing. The legendary Cerro Rico mine in Potosi, the world's highest city, in central Bolivia, has been exploited for nearly five centuries and the government fears the mountain might give in soon due to over-mining. Picture taken March 2003.



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