Ecuador has declared a 60-day state of emergency as the South American country has been hit by a severe drought and record wildfires that have razed large swaths of territory over the past weeks.
The Ecuadorian Secretariat for Risk Management (SNGR), the country’s emergency management agency, said in a statement on Monday that the state of emergency was declared “due to forest fires, water deficit and drought”.
“The whole country is suffering the ravages of this great drought that has already lasted almost 120 days,” Risk Management Secretary Jorge Carrillo told local radio broadcaster FM Mundo.
The blazes in the two provinces have affected about 10,200 hectares (25,204 acres) of forest and land.
Ecuador is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years, which has affected water levels in hydroelectric dams – a source of more than 70 percent of the country’s power.
Since October, the government has had to impose daily power cuts of up to 14 hours a day as it urged its 17 million people to save energy.
According to the Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS), which monitors wildfires around the world, Ecuador’s wildfire danger forecast is expected to increase from high to extreme in the affected provinces.
Record-setting blazes have broken out in other countries across South America as well, including Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia and Peru, as the region has been hit by severe drought.