Heifer staff is assessing the extent of the damage to farms, farmers' homes and livestock in the wake of the recent floods in Bolivia, but the initial reports and images and video show that the damage could prove to be devastating.
Unusually heavy rainfall in the northern regions of Bolivia caused damaging floods last week, and after closer examination, Heifer found the flood waters have affected about 1,100 Heifer farming families, said Napoleon Calcina, Heifer Bolivia's head of technology and communications. Calcina said that those farmers lost all of their rice, banana, mandioc and corn crops.
Heifer is planning to provide short-term provisional support—food, water, medicine and transportation—to project participants. Last week, Heifer Bolivia's Country Director Daniel Vildozo said most Heifer farming families in these areas have hair sheep and chickens, and that "these animals are at high risk because they can be washed away or eaten by wildlife species such as lizards, alligators and anacondas. They are also very likely to be affected also in the subsequent time due to the presence of disease."
On Tuesday, Heifer partners in the area were able to get a bird's-eye-view of the flooding and sent the following video. Take a look.
We will continue to update the status of our farmers as we receive information from the field. You can alsos see photos of the flooding on our Flickr site.
You can help these Bolivian farmers by donating to our disaster rehabilitation fund.
