Flooding in Santa Fe Adds to Argentina's Economic Misery

Catholic Relief Services
Monday, 5 May 2003

Flooding in Argentina's fifth largest city has killed at least 21 people, with more still missing. In the worst flooding ever recorded in the city of Santa Fe, heavy rains caused water levels to rise as quickly as two meters in three hours, leaving a third of the province under water. With more than 100,000 evacuated, and authorities having declared a national emergency, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is supporting its local partner agency, Caritas Argentina, which is coordinating the local community response.

Caritas aid workers say that, despite the fact that over half the Argentine population now lives below the poverty line, ordinary citizens have been providing food and clothing to the victims in Santa Fe.

CRS personnel working with Caritas say additional provisions will include temporary shelters, emergency lighting, and cooking gas, as well as livestock feed critically needed by area farmers.

Coming on the heels of an already crippling economic disaster, the flood has destroyed an estimated $200 million worth of soy and cattle production. More than seven million acres (three million hectares) of agricultural land have been affected in all.

"The people of Santa Fe have now been hit with a natural disaster on top of Argentina's ongoing economic disaster," says CRS Bolivia Country Representative Bill Farrand, who oversees the agency's partnership with Caritas Argentina. The partnership is the result of an agreement called In Solidarity with Argentina, which was formed earlier this year in order to reach out to US citizens and specifically to Argentineans living in the US.

"CRS and Caritas Argentina launched our In Solidarity with Argentina program to respond to the economic emergency, and now that Argentineans in the U.S. are contributing, we are in a good position to provide assistance to the victims of the flooding in Santa Fe," says Farrand.

For more information, or to contact Catholic Relief Services, see their website at: www.catholicrelief.org