El Salvador, Panama sound alarm on El Nino-fueled drought

Panama became the latest Central American nation, following Honduras and El Salvador, to declare an emergency due to the El Nino weather pattern. This declaration aims to prepare authorities for potential consequences, including a severe drought affecting harvests and threatening famine. El Salvador, meanwhile, has declared a state of maximum alert to activate monitoring, surveillance, and aid efforts for impacted communities.

The Civil Protection department of El Salvador issued a red alert for meteorological and farming drought across the nation. El Nino, a weather pattern that raises surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, leads to global changes in winds and rainfall, as well as erratic weather conditions. This year's El Nino is shaping up to be one of the most intense in recent years, contributing to global temperature rise.

Central America is currently grappling with a severe drought, prompting Honduras to place 80 percent of its territory on alert and causing shipping traffic to decrease in the Panama Canal due to low water levels. In El Salvador, the scarcity of rainfall has led to the destruction of crops, prompting the agriculture ministry to provide food assistance to rural families without irrigation systems.

Both El Salvador and Honduras have experienced their warmest June and July on record, further escalating famine concerns. So far in August, El Salvador has shattered 14 temperature records. Peru recently declared a state of emergency in a third of its cities due to El Nino, warning that intense heat and rain could also disrupt food production.