Panama and El Salvador declared emergency measures on Tuesday over heavy rainfall and severe drought linked to the El Niño phenomenon, which has already affected operations at the Panama Canal.
El Niño is a natural climate phenomenon that occurs periodically, typically every two to seven years. It involves unusually warm surface waters in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific, causing significant changes in winds, atmospheric pressure and rainfall patterns worldwide for several months.
The phenomenon can make conditions warmer and drier in some areas and colder and wetter in others, while also triggering extreme weather events.
Panama’s decision to declare a state of emergency was driven by “the need to be ready to deal with whatever may happen” because of El Niño, Interior Minister Dinoska Montalvo said at a press conference.
The measure will allow administrative procedures to be accelerated to address the effects of El Niño, which is expected to potentially become the strongest on record this year.
Panama Canal cuts vessel crossings
Due to a lack of rainfall, the Panama Canal Authority has announced that daily vessel transits will be reduced from 36 to 34 from 3 September, and then to 32 from 15 September.
The approximately 80-kilometre-long canal handles around 5% of global seaborne trade. The United States and China are among its main users.
El Salvador declares red alert
Further north, El Salvador also declared a “red alert” on Tuesday because of drought attributed to El Niño, which has already resulted in crop losses.
The country’s Civil Protection authorities declared the highest alert level because of drought across the entire country. El Salvador has been experiencing widespread drought and recorded 14 temperature records in August.
The measures include close monitoring of water resources and crops, identifying communities requiring emergency assistance and strengthening epidemiological surveillance, according to Civil Protection.
Also read: AI-generated music banned from Australian charts
For more videos and updates, check out our YouTube channel
