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FROM THE FIELD

Millions Devastated by Deadly Drought In Guatemala
15 Oct 2009 14:46:00 GMT
 Source: Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) International
Nadia McGill

Website: Website: http://www.adra.org

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REUTERS/Daniel LeClair (GUATEMALA), courtesy www.alertnet.org

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SILVER SPRING, Md.--On Monday, October 12, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) completed an emergency food distribution, helping low-income rural families battling the worst drought to hit Guatemala in 30 years.

Since July, below average rainfall in parts of Zacapa, Baja Verapaz, Chiquimula, El Progreso, Jalapa, and Jutiapa has led to the deterioration and failure of crops, affecting the health and nutrition of families through the region, particularly those most vulnerable, such as the rural poor, as well as women and children.

In response, on Thursday, October 8, ADRA began providing food baskets for nearly 2,000 people in the department of Jalapa, which is part of Guatemala's "dry corridor", to assist communities severely affected by the effects of the drought.

"Most of the people living in this area depend 100 percent on agricultural work to survive," said Otoniel Trujillo, country director for ADRA Guatemala. "Many of them invested the little they had in the land, hoping to have a big crop. However, with so little rain, they lost all of their money, and they lost the crop as well."

ADRA organized this distribution with the assistance of the Guatemala Union of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, distributing food baskets, stocked with rice, beans, oil, sugar, salt, and cornmeal, for 377 families affected by the food crisis within the department.

Funders for this project include ADRA International, the ADRA Inter-American Regional office located in Miami, Florida, and ADRA Guatemala.

On September 8, the government of Guatemala declared a State of National Calamity in response to the food crisis, which is currently affecting an estimated 2.5 million people in 21 municipalities in Central American country, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Also, nearly 50 percent of Guatemalan children under the age of five currently suffer from stunting, caused by chronic under nutrition, reports the World Food Programme (WFP). An estimated 54,000 families in the eastern part of the country cannot access the food they need.

Follow ADRA on twitter and get the latest information as it happens.

To send your contribution to ADRA's Emergency Response Fund, please contact ADRA at 1.800.424.ADRA (2372) or give online at www.adra.org.

ADRA is a non-governmental organization present in 125 countries providing sustainable community development and disaster relief without regard to political or religious association, age, gender, race or ethnicity.

For more information about ADRA, visit www.adra.org.


[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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Last updated:Thu Oct 15 14:50:03 2009