The largest flood of the Paraguay River in half a century leaves 88,000 displaced | Internationale

Bruno Cubilla is one of the many victims. Stow in your boat between homes, churches and flooded schools up to the ceiling. Pigs, dogs and cats swim in search of a dry place to rest. The Cubilla boat is crossed with other boats in which people load their most precious goods with one goal: to reach the continent. They take with them farm animals, cabinets, televisions and refrigerators, refrigerators, after having to leave their homes suddenly when they saw that the Paraguay River was swallowing sidewalks, streets and buildings.

Sunday, at dawn, a retaining wall separating the residential area of ​​Saxony (west of Asunción) gave way and the water of the river came by surprise in about 200 houses. Groups of volunteer firefighters, national emergency services and members of the Red Cross went on site to help the neighbors, but they could not avoid the displacement of at least 7,500 families, according to municipal figures. On average, a Paraguayan family has four members, according to the 2010-2025 census projections.

Cubilla, 39, has visited San Miguel, in the now-quiet Bañado Norte, one of the most popular neighborhoods in Asunción, located less than one kilometer from the heart of the Paraguayan capital. From this point, you can see the office skyscrapers and stately mansions of the wealthy Las Mercedes and Barrio Jara people, growing continuously and never touched by water, unlike less economically attractive areas. "The government had already lifted the state of emergency and asked the people to move again.And in 15 days, the water came back and the quilombo began [lío]. The people were desperate and many lost everything, "said Cubilla, while in his house the water reached the windows.

Two months ago, this canine fisherman and barber was forced to settle with his wife and two children in a municipal park to build their own wooden shed and metal roof. Since then, they live there, returning every day to monitor their home in the neighborhood – independent – and collaborate with neighbors for the rescue of their property. "You are losing a lot of things here when the water goes up … You lose everything, your place, your privacy, the kids have to go further to school, and the government does not put any money in there. bus to pick them up or bring them in. We need to take care The executive did not give me anything, "Cubilla adds. In San Miguel, there are no rescue teams, neither the government nor the army: only a police van is parked next to the asphalt hall where families are raising their shelters, fearing that he do not rain again.

In Caacupemi, the school of the region, run by the Jesuit network Fe y Alegría, studies more than two hundred girls and boys and is flooded to the second floor. At the door, where bikes were piling up, there are now floating wooden boats. The water almost covers the European Union's poster reminiscent of the support given by the community bloc to this area during a past flood: "#devueltaacasa.Humanitarian Assistance Project to families affected by the El Niño phenomenon in Asunción ".

"This situation has not occurred for 48 years: the river is growing rapidly (…) We can talk about 22,000 families affected throughout the country," said Monday the head of the National Relief Secretariat of Emergency of Paraguay, Joaquín Roa. explained on the radio station monumental that the rise of the river is due to intense rains in the north of the country. "The flood generated up to now is atypical and extraordinary," says the latest hydro-meteorological report, which places the river at least 6.85 meters across Asunción and warns that other Paraguayan cities, such as that Alberdi, Concepción, Bahia Negra and Pilar are in a similar situation or worse.

A death inside

The isolation suffered by some areas of the South American country as a result of the flood proves deadly. A five-year-old from Enxet village died Thursday of pneumonia, which could have been avoided had he received medical badistance on time, according to the Paraguayan NGO Tierraviva, dedicated to defending the rights of the indigenous peoples of Chaco.

Their family members were unable to reach the hospital by land because the only routes through which they could pbad were closed by the Wharf Board, which operates without the participation of communities. The boy had to be saved in a helicopter from the Ministry of Health, but he died the same night at Villa Hayes Hospital. The father regretted the behavior of the breeders of the region "who give priority to animals before men," according to a statement by Tierraviva.

Presidente Hayes, one of three Chaco departments, has about 25,000 members of flood-affected indigenous communities who are demanding humanitarian aid, according to 25 leaders who went to Asunción to denounce the lack of support from the government .