Bolivia declares state of emergency over El Nino

LIMA - Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz signed a decree Saturday declaring a national state of emergency to address the impacts of El Nino.

Paz said he signed the decree to tackle drought affecting several regions of the country and prepare for potential flooding in the coming months.

The president said the measure aims to mobilize financial and human resources, strengthen coordination among government agencies and seek international cooperation to assist affected families and mitigate the impact of climate-related disasters on people's lives and economic activities.

Paz said 63 communities in Bolivia have already been affected by drought, while the livestock sector is also struggling with shortages of animal feed.

Bolivia's Vice Ministry of Civil Defense said Wednesday that nearly 80,000 families across six of the country's nine departments had been affected by water shortages, with drought killing more than 75,000 head of livestock.

El Nino is a climate phenomenon characterized by unusually warm surface waters in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, often causing abnormal weather patterns in many parts of the world.