The Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) was partially replenished by the Directorate General European Commission's Humanitarian aid and Civil Protection department (DG ECHO). The major donors and partners of the DREF include the Red Cross Societies and governments of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United States of America, as well as DG ECHO, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) the Medtronic, Zurich and Coca Cola Foundations and other corporate and private donors. The international Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), on behalf of the Guatemalan Red Cross, would like to extend many thanks to DG ECHO for their generous contribution.
A. Situation Analysis
Description of the Disaster
The La Pasión River located in the municipality of Sayaxché in the department of Petén is part of Guatemala's protected areas. In June 2015, according to the National Risk Reduction Coordinating Centre (CONRED), oxidation ponds of an oil producer in the area overflowed due to heavy rain, contaminating the La Pasión River. The river is 345 km long 150 of which are affected by the contamination) and fed by many important sources which discharge significant amounts in this department.
According to official data, Sayaxché has approximately 76,482 inhabitants, of whom 87 per cent live in rural areas, 72 per cent belong to indigenous populations(mainly Q’eqchis) 76.3 per cent live in poverty, 29.4 per cent in extreme poverty and 34 per cent suffer from chronic and acute malnutrition (data recorded in the Governance Pact). The main economic activities are fishing, agriculture and agricultural work on palm plantations; thirty-six per cent of palmcultivated land is in Sayaxché.
Many communities lack running and/or chlorinated or treated water for domestic consumption. Some communities have wells, but residents never know the level of purity of the water they extract. It is clear that many communities depend almost entirely on the La Pasión River and related streams. Communities south of Sayaxché report at least 3 instances in the last five years involving the contamination of streams, wells and hydrographical network that resulted from discharges of agro-chemicals from local industry.
Agriculture is the predominant activity in the region, with 51.09 per cent of the population engaging in it. In 2008, the main products were corn, beans, squash, rice, jalapeño peppers, cobanero, zambo, watermelon, peanut, and pineapple, but cultivation of African Palm has increased in recent years. According to the National Council for Protected Areas (CONAP), 16 per cent of the land in the municipality belongs to private palm enterprises. Livestock production accounts for 12.93 per cent of the municipality's economy. This involves the breeding and fattening of cattle; therefore, large tracts of land belonging to a few are used for this productive activity. Craft production accounts for 24.52 per cent of the municipality's economy, in which carpentry is especially strong; fishing, iron foundry, bakery, wood handicrafts, tailoring, candle-making and hammock production are additional livelihoods within the communities.
Results of the first water samples taken by the Toxicology Laboratory at the University of San Carlos in Guatemala were obtained on 10 June 2015, which indicated the presence of an organophosphorus pesticide (Malathion). This has caused the massive death of fish and other aquatic animal species in the ecosystem, and it is considered the most serious environmental problem of its kind in the national territory1.
On 12 June 2015, the governor of Petén declared an orange alert for the entire department, and the mayor of Sayaxché declared a red alert on that same day. These are still in place in order to prioritize emergency assistance.
According to CONRED’s 30 June report:
- 22 communities are affected
- 14,827 people are at risk
- 12,017 people are affected
It is important to mention that the investigation is stalled after four and a half months after the massive die-off of fish in the La Pasión River, which affected 185 km downstream from the source of the pollution and was classified by authorities as an ecocide. As a result of the stalled investigation, communities are alleging that authorities do not care about safeguarding their lives and that there is neither adequate information nor interest in resolving the problem.
The first and second United Nations (UN) Situation Reports were released on the third week in July (http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/GT-Informe_Sit_Contaminacion_No_2.pdf). This study conducted by a UN inter-agency team, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS-NET) and environmental experts from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) confirmed the results of the assessment performed by the Guatemalan Red Cross and supplements the information with protection data.
It is important to highlight that Malathion is very toxic to aquatic organisms and dangerous to both the environment and human beings. However, given that there is no Malathion contamination in the La Pasión River to date, local authorities have decreased the alert level and emergency operations centre meetings to monitor this emergency to every fifteen days. Furthermore, decreasing the alert level will allow local authorities to initiate recovery actions.
Nevertheless, the Guatemalan Red Cross, with support from the Spanish Red Cross for CHF 45,140, began the exit process, which includes building cisterns in communities to collect rainwater, repairing water systems, cleaning wells, distributing water filters and intensifying hygiene promotion actions; these measures are contributing positively to communities affected by the contamination of the La Pasión river.