On Tuesday, Panama declared a state of emergency due to severe drought caused by the El Niño phenomenon. It has become the third Central American country, after Honduras and El Salvador, to introduce emergency measures because of a lack of rainfall. LRT reports, according to UNN.
Details
Panama’s Minister of the Interior, Dinoska Montalvo, said the decision would allow the authorities to better prepare for the consequences of the drought, which is already destroying crops and posing risks to food security.
Due to falling water levels, the Panama Canal has been forced to reduce the number of vessels that can pass through it. This creates additional problems for one of the world’s key trade routes.
The situation in other countries
In El Salvador, the authorities declared the highest, red alert level because of meteorological and agricultural drought. The country is intensifying monitoring of the situation and preparing food aid for rural families that lack irrigation systems.
Honduras has also reported a serious threat to a significant part of its territory. The Central American Dry Corridor, which encompasses parts of Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, has been particularly affected.
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The situation is being worsened by abnormal heat. Record temperatures were recorded in all three countries in June and July, while in August alone, 14 temperature records were broken in El Salvador.
El Niño is a natural climate phenomenon during which the surface water in the central and eastern parts of the equatorial Pacific Ocean warms. It changes precipitation and wind patterns and can cause extreme weather in various regions of the world.