7 Dead, 7,700 Homeless in Panama Rains
PANAMA CITY (laht.com) -- At least seven people have died, another 7,700 have been forced from their homes and extensive damage has been done to roads and bridges during the past four days of heavy rains and flooding in the western Panamanian provinces of Chiriqui and Bocas del Toro.
Panama's civil defense agency, Sinaproc, said that more than 40 homes have been destroyed, another have been 162 damaged and 7,700 refugees are being housed in shelters.
Social Development Minister Maria Roquebert, who heads the government commission that coordinates the aid staging centers, said that the number of people affected by the rains could exceed 30,000.
Roquebert added that on Wednesday an air bridge and a maritime bridge would be established to transport humanitarian aid to Bocas del Toro, which has been cut off by land due to damage to the main roadways connecting it with the rest of the country.
Also, authorities will take supplies to the affected areas from neighboring Costa Rica.
The Panamanian Red Cross, meanwhile, has performed more than 500 rescues and evacuated more then 1,500 people, and it is prepared to provide for the basic needs of some 2,500 people affected by the flooding.
The Foreign Ministry on Monday requested international aid to attend to the emergency.
The secretary general of the Foreign Ministry, Roberto Antonio Rosas, met with representatives of the regional office of the World Food Program, which has committed itself to sending nutritional crackers from El Salvador to help feed the people affected by the storms.
The U.S. Embassy in Panama announced plans to dispatch two Black Hawk helicopters from Base JTF Bravo in Soto Cano, Honduras, to help the affected people as soon as weather conditions improve.
The government rented another five helicopters to mobilize their personnel and move them to the disaster zone.
Spain on Tuesday delivered 14 tons of humanitarian aid from the regional logistics center it operates in Panama to local authorities who are coping with the emergency.
The charge d'affaires at the Spanish Embassy in Panama, Miguel Moro, told Efe that the donation was agreed to in Madrid during the state visit of Panamanian President Martin Torrijos.
Torrijos announced Tuesday in Madrid that he was cutting short his visit to Spain to return to Panama "as quickly as possible" and monitor first-hand the situation created by the flooding.
Weather forescasters say more rain is expected over the next two days. EFE
