[QODLink]
Americas
Food insecurity stalks Guatemala
Country's food crisis exacerbated by Tropical Storm Agatha that wiped out crops last month.
Last Modified: 08 Jul 2010 19:41 GMT

As Mexicans in the country's north reel from the impact of Tropical Storm Alex, residents further south in Guatemala are still struggling with the aftermath of another storm.

Tropical Storm Agatha barreled through the country last month, flooding farms and ruining a year's harvest.

The storm only exacerbated a food crisis in the Central American country.

The World Food Programme says close to a million Guatemalans live in hunger or fear of starvation. That's about seven per cent of the population.

More than 20 per cent of Guatemalans are undernourished as are nearly 50 per cent of children under the age of five.

But since Tropical Storm Agatha wiped out crops across the country, food insecurity has become more acute.

Al Jazeera's David Mercer reports from San Miguel Escobar, Guatemala.

Source:
Al Jazeera
Topics in this article
People
Country
City
Organisation
Featured on Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera's exclusive publishing of a key Guantanamo prison military document lays bare the brutality of force-feeding.
Former military official says poverty and anger in indigenous communities mean conditions for an "insurgency" are ripe.
A four-part series that gives a rare insight into the country on the move, with history in tow.
Series on the Palestinian 'catastrophe' of 1948 that led to dispossession and conflict that still endures.
Featured
Two years since the start of the uprising, rebels and Assad's forces remain locked in conflict.
A four-part series that gives a rare insight into the country on the move, with history in tow.
News and analysis of 2013 presidential contest as Ahmadinejad finishes second term.
Extensive coverage of war crimes tribunals and controversial calls for blasphemy laws.
Series on the Palestinian 'catastrophe' of 1948 that led to dispossession and conflict that still endures.
join our mailing list