The Paraguayan Government has about 6.4 million dollars (40,000 million guaranies) to assist, until now, 20,400 families affected throughout the country by the flooding of the Paraguay River, as reported by the head of the National Emergency Secretariat (SEN), Joaquín Roa.
In a press conference, after meeting in the government palace of Asunción the Executive Committee of National Emergency, Roa reported that "80.2% have already been assisted" of these families, about 16,300, and that the rest will be in "the next hours", because access to some places is complicated.
Roa said that to date, the Executive has distributed 780 tons of food and that vehicles of the Armed Forces, both land, air, river and amphibious, are being allocated to "facilitate evacuations."
In addition, it has indicated that the Navy is in charge of "providing security" to those evicted neighborhoods, to avoid possible looting.
At the same time, he pointed out that in the Paraguayan capital the number of displaced families amounted to 3,089, mainly of those known as "bathed" south and north - marginal belts located on the banks of Paraguay - and that for them they have enabled four properties to house them, which They have electricity and drinking water.
He added that he has 3,300 places for the same number of families, in case the number of displaced people increases in the next two weeks, due to rain forecasts.
In that sense, the mayor of Asunción, Mario Ferreiro, present at the meeting and the press conference, pointed out that the Municipality has also made available to the SEN "several hostels" that, he acknowledged, "are not the ideals", that it is a wasteland where the victims build temporary precarious housing.
The mayor anticipated that the evacuation could last "90 days" since "the return is gradual".
The head of the SEN explained that this is an "atypical" situation since the rainy season has advanced one month, and since "48 years ago the river did not have this rise so quickly", since from 15 March has grown 3.4 meters, reaching 6 meters above its normal level.
The flood "responds to the large amount of water fallen in Paraguay", where in some departments the average monthly rainfall has tripled for this time of year.
The head of the Civil Cabinet, Julio Ullón, indicated that the Government and the Municipality "are working to find a definitive solution" to the displacement of thousands of families that, every year, produce the floods of the Paraguay River.