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Flood devastates indigenous region

The Río Fonseca overran its banks Wednesday, leaving 2 people dead and several others missing.

Sinaproc officials have requested donations of blankets, bottled water and canned food.

Eduardo Espinosa/LA PRENSA

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Shock has given way to grief in Soloy, a village in the Comarca Ngobe Büglé, after the Río Fonseca flooded on Wednesday, sweeping away the lives of a 60-year-old man and an eight-month-old child. Officials with the Sistema Nacionla de Protección Civil (Sinaproc) reported that six people remain missing and much of the community have taken shelter at the gymnasium of a local school.

The indigenous community is one of several along the Río Fonseca in the independent territory straddling the provinces of Veraguas, Chiriquí and Bocas del Toro.

“This is the first time I have seen something so terrible, I thought it was never going to end” commented one resident, who lost his childhood friend in the flood.

Medical teams have arrived in the area to monitor the community’s health and distribute drinking water to prevent an outbreak of diarrhea, a common ailment following floods, said Guillermo Guerra, director of Salud Comarcal.

Mario Rodríguez, director of the Departamento Nacional de Provisiones de Servicios de Salud, explained that emergency service officials were still surveying the extent of damages to the area.

Comarca Governor Ausencio Palacios confirmed that the flood left many people homeless, an issue that an emergency commission would take into account when assessing whether to rebuild the community in the same area or transfer families to other communities within the Comarca.

Palacios indicated that the commission’s priority is restoring the six rope bridges destroyed in the communities of Boca Balsa, and Boca Boca Remidio Huso, which the residents use to cross the river.

“We need the solidarity and support of the authorities and of all Panamanians, because there are many people here who have lost everything,” commented Palacios.

Sinaproc officials are collecting blankets, bottled water and canned food to distribute among the affected communities.