First year students away from home during natural disaster
The country of Guatemala remains under a state of emergency as a result of heavy rains and flooding occurring all over the country. The devastation however has hit close to home for first-year students Maria Inez Arriaza and Sebastian Morales.
“A big part of the Guatemala population is poor,” said Arriaza. “They barely have food. When things like this happen it really hits hard. They have no home, no food and nowhere to go.”
The heavy rains and mudslides happened while the country was recovering from a volcano eruption and tropical storm Agatha. The country is receiving assistance from the World Bank and other international organizations. Arriaza feels that the funding isn’t going to the right place.
“Our government gets the money from the World Bank but they are inefficient in using it. So all of a sudden the money disappears and nothing has been done. It is frustrating because we can’t really trust our government. Eighty-five per cent of the population is poor, they already have poverty, but now they have to face natural disasters with little preparation.”
View of the Pacaya Volcano (Submitted)
Since Guatemala is an agricultural country, the hurricane and volcano eruption caused major damage to the crops. A lot of families lost their livelihood as a result. Morales feels that the corruption of the government makes this situation a lot more difficult and upsetting.
“The poor people always suffer,” he said. “This is sad and frustrating. Although you love your country, it is sad to see things this way. And even though you want to do something you can’t because you don’t have the support you need to get anything done. In Spanish we call it ‘Llueve sobre mojado’ which means it rains over a surface that is already wet. It is already a mess here but things just keep getting worse.”
The heavy rains have caused a halt on the search and rescue team who were assisting with the mudslides. The mudslides have killed over 45 people across the country.
