LA PAZ (Reuters) -The Bolivian department of Santa Cruz has declared a state of emergency due to extreme weather including wildfires through to the end of this year, the departmental government said in a decree published on Thursday.
The latest wildfires in eastern Bolivia are preventing fuel supplies from reaching certain areas by train, local reports said. This has exacerbated ongoing diesel shortages that began earlier this week in the South American country and made it harder for firefighters to reach affected areas.
“A departmental emergency is declared due to the climatic changes, which have and are causing heavy rains, floods, droughts, strong winds, extreme temperatures, forest fires, environmental pollution and other events,” the decree said.
The state of emergency, in effect through December 30, calls on the government to free up funding and resources to rapidly address the disasters.
Bolivia, which has seen a spike in deforestation in recent years, has large wetland areas and a big chunk of South America’s Amazon rainforest.
It noted that 14 municipalities had declared disasters due to rains, landslides and flooding, six due to drought and one due drought and forest fires.
Julieta Valverde, the government’s natural resources director for Santa Cruz, told Reuters on Thursday around 200,000 hectares were affected by around 25 active fires.
“The government is currently attending to 10,” she said.
Scientists predict that this month could beat the July record for the most fires ever recorded in that month in Bolivia, when the full scale of the damage recorded by satellite imagery is analyzed.
(Reporting by Monica Machicao, Sergio Limachi and Lucinda Elliott; Writing by Sarah Morland.)
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