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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 11 november 2020
Guatemala landslide could be final resting place for many

By SONIA PÉREZ D. ning, he said. Deforestation
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — is another factor in destabi-
Days after a landslide bur- lizing mountainsides.
ied half the community of In 2018, the Volcano of
Queja in central Guate- Fire in southern Guate-
mala, rescuers have recov- mala erupted, killing some
ered only a handful of the 201 people. Relatives said
more than 100 people be- there were at least another
lieved to be buried there. 1,000 victims buried under
The location is so remote debris. Officially, more than
and the conditions so per- 200 are missing.
ilous that Queja could be- In 2015, a landslide in the
come the latest in a string Cambray neighborhood
of Guatemalan disaster inside the capital killed 250
sites that become the final and left about 70 missing.
resting places of their vic- That location had been de-
tims. clared dangerous before
On Monday, the Guatema- the slide, but local authori-
lan government said a to- ties allowed homes to be
tal of 44 deaths had been built there.
confirmed and 99 people In 2009, in a community
were still missing in floods called Los Chorros, just six
and landslides across the miles (10 kilometers) from
country. Queja, a landslide covered
President Alejandro Giam- the highway, killing more
mattei said he would ask than 35 people and leav-
the U.S. government to ing some 20 missing. The
grant "temporary protect- zone lives under the con-
ed status" to Guatemalans stant threat of landslides.
living in the United States At some point the searches
because of the damages are called off and the vic-
from Tropical Storm Eta. An tims remain buried over
estimated 21,000 homes relatives' objections. Some-
were damaged by the A member of a search and rescue team looks for survivors through the destruction caused by a times the sites are declared
storm. massive, rain-fueled landslide in the village of Queja, in Guatemala, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, in the "sacred ground," other
Eta's torrential rains did their aftermath of Tropical Storm Eta. times that is just the de fac-
worst damage around mid- Associated Press to result.
day Thursday, as residents Authorities in Queja are de-
in Queja, a farming town cal depression, passed. mer director of Guatema- producing elements like ciding what to do. Land-
of about 1,200 Poqomchi Emilio Caal, a farmer who la's national disaster man- Eta, but rather other factors slides have continued in
Mayas, were just about survived the slide, said 40 agement agency, noted that make us vulnerable the area, sometimes forc-
to have lunch. The moun- members of his family were the country has ranked and are directly tied to the ing them to evacuate res-
tainside above them gave missing. among the highest risk development of the coun- cuers from the debris field.
way, sweeping the wood- It took a day just for res- countries for natural disas- try," he said. "There is never going to be
en and tin-roofed down cuers to reach the scene ters in the hemisphere, ac- Communities don't have development in Guatema-
the mountain and burying because other landslides cording to the World Risk the funds to invest in mitiga- la nor reduction of poverty
them under feet of orange blocked highways. Sup- Index. tion measures necessary to if there is not an effort to
mud and debris. plies for survivors had to be "It is a structural problem better develop their com- reduce the risk of disasters,"
It had been raining heavily flown in by helicopter. that is linked no only the munities. Remote commu- and that way save lives,
for days as Eta, then a tropi- Alejandro Maldonado, for- threat or the probability of nities lack adequate plan- Maldonado said.q

Falklands to be landmine free nearly 40 years after war

LONDON (AP) — Britain's mines does not end with will detonate the final mine
Foreign Office says the our territories being mine in a ceremony on Nov. 14
Falklands will soon be land- free.'' said Wendy Morton, that will also include cutting
mine free - almost 40 years the U.K. minister responsible down fences to reopen ac-
after the 1982 conflict be- for the Falklands. "A further cess to beaches.
tween the United Kingdom 36 million pounds ($47.6 Argentina lost the war for
and Argentina in the South million) of U.K. funding will the South Atlantic archi-
Atlantic islands. allow demining projects pelago after its troops em-
A U.K.-funded mine clear- across the world to contin- barked on an ill-fated inva-
ing program that started ue, protecting innocent ci- sion. The conflict claimed
in 2009 is set to end three vilian lives." The funding will the lives of 649 Argentines
years ahead of schedule. help Afghanistan, Angola, and 255 British soldiers.
With the completion of the Cambodia, Iraq, Laos, Argentina still claims the
program, no anti-personnel Lebanon, Myanmar, Soma- islands, which it calls the
mines will remain on British lia, Sudan, South Sudan, Sri Malvinas. Britain says the In this Dec. 10, 1985 file photo, “Redfire,” a remote-controlled
soil. Lanka, Vietnam, Yemen, Falklands are a self-gov- robot, undergoes testing in a mine clearance operation by Brit-
"Our commitment to rid- and Zimbabwe. erning entity under its ish army troops in the Falkland Islands.
ding the world of fatal land People on the Falklands protection.q Associated Press