More than a quarter-million Bolivians are still struggling to recover from unprecedented rains and hailstorms that caused severe flooding in January and February. Unusually heavy rains have continued into the spring, making recovery from the winter’s floods even more difficult.
“It has been a devastating disaster,” said Jean Waagbo, Lutheran World Relief’s Associate Director for Latin America. “Many families lost everything – their crops, their livestock, even their homes were destroyed. Some communities were partially buried in mud eight feet deep. Recovery will take many months.”
Waagbo continued, “This is one of the situations that we call a forgotten emergency. It didn’t get a lot of media coverage, so few people were even aware that it was happening. But our continued support of the people affected by this disaster is absolutely necessary if we are to keep them from sliding further into poverty. They were already poor, now this disaster has taken away everything they had.”
LWR is responding to the crisis on behalf of the global aid alliance Action by Churches Together (ACT) International. We are assisting some of the most severely affected communities in the department of Santa Cruz, providing farming families with seeds and tools so that they can begin to replace lost crops; a male and female sheep to help them begin to replace lost herds; tree seedlings to begin the reforestation process; and assistance with legal disputes over property rights. LWR’s local partner in Bolivia is also training the communities in sustainable agricultural practices.
LWR’s work focuses not only on providing immediate relief in a disaster’s aftermath, but on helping combat the root causes of poverty and injustice. Therefore, our involvement with the flood-affected communities will not end with the harvest of the first crop. LWR will remain involved with development in these communities even after the crisis phase has passed.
