MADRID 18 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Government of Ecuador, led by President Daniel Noboa, has declared this Monday a “national emergency” for sixty days due to the magnitude of the forest fires, the water deficit and the drought in which the Latin American country is immersed.
The Minister of Environment, Water and Ecological Transition, Inés Manzano, has confirmed the measure with the aim of dealing with the 17 fires that remain active and another five that, for the moment, are controlled. The flames affect the southern provinces of Azuay and Loja.
In the extinction work, focused on the Cajas National Park (Azuay) and the Podocarpus National Park (Loja), troops from the Armed Forces and the National Police participate, as reported by the National Secretariat for Risk Management (SNGR).
The governments of Peru and Italy have contributed with helicopters to try to combat the outbreaks that are active, which in the case of Azuay have affected more than 1.7 million hectares since last November 1, while in Loja They have consumed more than 8,500 hectares in up to 10 cantons.
Added to the forest fires are cuts in the electricity supply to alleviate the current energy deficit, derived from the drought that affects the main hydroelectric plants and the decrease in supply from neighboring Colombia.
The authorities have justified the measure by referring to an unprecedented drought in the last half century, which has led some plants to accumulate water levels that barely exceed the minimum in order to continue operating.
Noboa acknowledged at the end of September that the energy crisis has plunged the South American nation into “chaos” and assured that the Government did not foresee that in 2024 it would have to face the worst drought season in the last 60 years.