Bolivia declares flood 'disaster'

by Jarrett Martineau | February 12, 2008 at 05:48 pm

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Bolivia's government has been criticized for failing to provide a timely response to widespreading floods that have submerged an area of more than 80,000 sq km with water and caused polluted water and the spread of disease.

The Bolivian government has declared severe flooding in the east of the country a national disaster, after flood waters rose, threatening to burst dikes protecting the city of Trinidad.

Tent cities have been set up in and around Trinidad, about 500 km (310 miles) northeast of the capital, La Paz, to house those affected by the waters.

At least 50 people have been killed and 43,000 affected in Bolivia's eastern lowlands since November, according to officials.