Ecuador increases alert level from “yellow” to “orange” due to El Niño

The national Emergency Operations Committee (COE) of Ecuador announced this Monday that it has raised to “orange” (preparation for an imminent event) the level of alert for the emergency that the marine atmospheric phenomenon of The boy.

He COEmade up of authorities from various ministries and assistance and rescue institutions, reported that it has been decided to change the alert level that has been maintained for several weeks from “yellow” (caution or activation in the event of a threat of an event) to “orange”.

The increase in the alert level was declared because the presence of the natural phenomenon is “imminent and will possibly coincide with the country’s rainy season, in the last quarter of the year“, according to the Secretary of Risk Management, Cristian Torres.

The Minister of the Interior and President of the COE, Juan Zapataexplained that the resolution was adopted after an analysis of compliance with technical criteria on the oceanic and atmospheric conditions present in the Pacific Ocean.

These parameters show a “high possibility of occurrence of the phenomenon for the current quarter“added Zapata, after announcing that a Action plan general to face the natural phenomenon.

The secretary of Risk management explained that, with the increase in the alert level, local governments and other entities will intensify the development of action plans in the territories susceptible to receiving the impacts of the event.

The director of the Navy Oceanographic and Antarctic Institute (Inoculate), Carlos Zapatapointed out that the technical entities will maintain strict surveillance over oceanic and atmospheric conditions.

The director of Inoculate He also announced that at the beginning of October a cruise will set sail that will build an oceanographic footprint and monitor the entry of warm waters from the central Pacific to the eastern part of the ocean.

The Ecuadorian vice president, Alfredo Borrerowho supervises the COEsaid that visits will be maintained to the provinces likely to receive the onslaught of the phenomenon of The boyto dialogue with authorities and unions about action and prevention plans.

He specified that this Tuesday he will be in the coastal province of Esmeraldas, in the northwest of the country and on the border with Colombia.

For his part, the president of the Association of Municipalities of Ecuador, Patricio Maldonadoreported that it will present to the Constitutional Court a study that seeks to accelerate the approval in that body of a decree law issued by the president of the country, the conservative Guillermo Lasso, on Risk and Disaster Management.

According to Maldonadosaid regulations presented by the Executive on September 5 are necessary to accelerate public contracting processes and to transfer machinery that was seized in operations against illegal mining, to institutions that can use them as support tools in the response task. the presence of The boy.

On August 24, the National Committee for the Regional Study of the Phenomenon of The boy (Erfen) warned that the sea surface temperature in the Eastern Pacific presented anomalies of up to 3.3 degrees Celsius, 1.3 degrees above the average considered normal for the time.

In addition, the displacement of Kelvin waves, which can intensify the phenomenon, was expected at the end of September, according to said Committee.

The phenomenon of The boy It consists of an unusual warming of the Eastern Tropical Pacific, which results in heavy rains in coastal areas that cause eventual flooding and the overflowing of rivers, mainly in Ecuador and on the northern coast of Perualthough its effects have reached global dimensions.

Source: EFE