Guatemala suspended resue services for Hurricane Eta

Guatemala has completed rescue services at the site of a substantial landslide believed to have killed dozens of people in Queja community during Tropical Storm Eta last week, the country’s National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction (CONRED) agency has announced.

Storm Eta’s massive rainfalls damaged trees, distended swift-moving rivers, and tore down parts of a mountainside above the community of Queja in the central Guatemalan province of Alta Verapaz, burying people in their houses.

President Alejandro Giammattei on Friday stated that around 150 people could have been buried in the Queja landslide; however, CONRED’s individual numbers record eight validated deaths in Queja, while another 88 people are still missing in the village.

CONRED announced it was delaying the search for bodies due to extended dangers at the site in accordance with international obligations. Search crews had located eight victims before the effort was suspended.

David de Leon, the spokesperson for the agency, announced the area was volatile and the soils soaked.

Alberto Ical, a community manager in Queja, reported that the villagers want to proceed with the search as the local culture is to witness the bodies of the dead family members before burying them.

“I don’t covet the bodies to stay there,” said Ical, who told the surviving Queja citizens that CONRED would not allow the search to go on.

“What we want is to maintain searching and be capable of locating everyone. However, we are aware that it will not be possible,” he continued.

Nationally, the verified death toll from Eta stood at 44, and there were 99 disappeared people across Guatemala, according to CONRED statistics.

The destructive weather front caused by Eta was one of the worst storms to hit Central America in years, spreading destruction from Panama to Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras and Mexico.