Panajachel - between two rivers

Written by Marco | 08 June 2010
Posted in -Agatha- news / noticias

< Cerro Lec, the current state.		San Pedro la Laguna >

Barrio Norte of Jucanyá, in Panajachel - between two rivers

The afternoon of Saturday may 29, will be hard to forget for the people of this area of the town of Panajachel, Guatemala.

The storm Agatha punch them in two ways. On one side, the Tzalá river swept away everything on its path, including trees, big rocks, cars and, of course, houses, blocking the road. On the other side, the San Francisco river burst its banks and combined with the Tzalá

200 persons had to leave their homes, what means that they have been living in schools, churches or with some relatives or friends until today, and nobody knows when they will return to an own house.

In the 95% of the houses of the area the portable water hasn’t been restored. They are starting to get sick.

In the moment of writing this note (Monday 7 of June) no one from CONRED had visit them to offer help. The mayor of Panajachel was only able to clean the road.

The biggest worries is that the people are not working, they were doing volunteer work for restoring the walking bridge over the San Francisco river, cleaning the Tzalá´s source and moving the sludge or cleaning the houses and alleys.

They are also working protecting the mountainsides against others landslides or avalanches, before the next rain comes.

Damage on buildings:

14 houses completely destroyed

2 houses “chalet” completely destroyed

9 houses with partial damage (that can be restored)

They asks for solidarity of guatemalans and foreigners with:

- Canned food

- Drinking water, water purifiers

- Blankets and clothes, especially for children

- Material for building roofs

- Acetaminophen and medicine for diarrhea

- Rain boots, picks and shovels

- Cement

For donations:

Movimiento Ati:

Lucía Escobar (502- 55705221, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
Juan Miguel Arrivillaga (502-49643536, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )

COCODE Sector Barrio Norte Jucanya’

Santiago Noe (502- 42485209, president)
Ana Cecilia Yax (502- 51257680, secretary)