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world news Diahuebs 10 Juni 2021

Bolivia's 'People of the Water' try to survive loss of lake

(AP) — For many genera- “Our grandfathers thought
tions, the homeland of the the lake would last all their
Uru people here wasn’t lives, and now my people are
land at all: It was the near extinction because our
brackish waters of Lake source of life has been lost,”
Poopo. said Luis Valero, leader of the
Uru communities around
The Uru — “people of the the lake.
water” — would build a
sort of family island of reeds Not long before the lake was
when they married and lost, the language of the Uru-
would survive on what they Cholo had perished as well.
could harvest from the broad, The last native speakers grad-
shallow lake in the highlands ually died and younger gen-
of southwestern Bolivia. erations grew up schooled
in Spanish and working in
“They collected eggs, fished, other, more common Indig-
hunted flamingos and birds. enous languages, Aymara and
When they fell in love, the Quechua.
couple built their own raft,”
said Abdón Choque, leader To save their identities, the
of Punaca, a town of some communities are trying to
180 people. revive that language — or at
least its closest sibling. Aided our neighbors.”
Now what was Bolivia’s sec- by the government and a lo- .Punaca Mayor Rufino With no land for farming, the
ond-largest lake is gone. It cal foundation, they have in- “The instructors teach us Choque said the Uru be- young men hire themselves
dried up about five years ago, vited teachers from a related the language with numbers, gan settling on the lakeshore out as laborers, herders or
victim of shrinking glaciers, branch of the Uru, the Uru- songs and greetings,” said several decades ago as the miners in nearby towns or
water diversions for farming Chipaya near the Chilean Avelina Choque, a 21 year lake began to shrink, though more distant cities. “They see
and contamination. Ponds border to the west, to teach old student who said she one by then, most of the lands the money and they don’t re-
reappear in places during the that tongue — one of 36 of- day would like to teach math- around them had been oc- turn,” said Abdón. Some of
rainy season. ficially recognized Bolivian ematics. “It’s a little difficult cupied. the woman make handicrafts
languages — to their chil- to pronounce.” of straw.
And the Uru of Lake Poopo dren. “We are ancient (as a people),
are left clinging to its salt- The pandemic has added to but we have no territory. Now The broader Uru people
crusted former shoreline in “In this times, everything that struggle. The teachers we have no source of work, once dominated a large swath
three small settlements, 635 changes. But we are making have been unable to hold nothing,” said the 61-year-ild of the region, and branches
people scrabbling for ways to efforts to maintain our cul- in-person classes during the mayor, whose town consists remain around Peru and Lake
make a living and struggling ture,” Valero said. “Our chil- pandemic, leaving students of ribbon of round, plastered Titicaca to the north, around
to save even their culture. dren have to recover the lan- to learn from texts, videos block homes along an earth- the Chilean border and near
guage to distinguish us from and radio programs. en street. the Argentine border.

Building collapse in South Korea kills 9, injures 8

(AP) — A five-story build- building in the southern city seriously injured, before dis-
ing being demolished in of Gwangju fell on the bus covering the nine bodies, the
southern South Korea carrying 17 people which had agency said in a statement.
collapsed on Wednesday, stopped on a nearby street,
sending debris falling the National Fire Agency Fire officer Kim Seok-sun
on a bus and killing nine said. said in a televised briefing
people on board, officials from the site that all workers
said. Emergency officers dis- at the building site had evac-
patched to the site rescued uated before its collapse. He
Concrete from the collapsed eight people from the bus, all said some of the workers told

investigators that they had An earlier fire agency state-
closed a pedestrian walkway ment said the debris also fell
near the building before the on two passenger vehicles.
collapse. But agency officials later cor-
rected that after watching se-
Fire agency officials said curity videos.
emergency officers were still
searching for any other peo- Local media showed the de-
ple who might be trapped bris falling on the bus and
under the debris. The cause engulfing the street in a huge
of the collapse wasn’t imme- cloud of dust. A video after
diately known. the collapse showed dozens
of rescue workers equipped
Kim said the bus driver was with stretchers and crowbars
among the injured. Authori- searching for survivors while
ties didn’t immediately pro- excavators hacked at a huge
vide details of the other in- mountain of crumbled con-
jured or dead people. crete and bent steel beams
spilling over the motorway.