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Drought Spreads Hunger in Central America
Three months of drought during what is normally the rainy season have caused as many as 1.6 million people in Central America to suffer from hunger, the U.N. World Food Program says.
The drought striking Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras, is the most urgent problem to hit the area since Hurricane Mitch killed 26,000 people in 1998, the agency said in a statement Sunday.
It said it had so far only been able to distribute food to about half of the nearly 700,000 people who were seriously affected.
"The situation is difficult but we are doing everything possible to confront it," the agency said. It said Honduras was hit hardest.
The United States responded to the agency's plea in July for foreign donors for 16,500 tons of basic grains, sending 3,640 tons.
Some experts say 80% of the basic grain crop has been lost to the drought this year. Local governments also have blamed illegal wood cutting for denuding hillsides, causing erosion and wasted runoff.
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