Costa Rican Rainy Season Bringing on Disasters

The rainy season this year in Central America has been particularly wet due to low pressure and hurricane Tomas. All the rain these countries are recieving is causing damage to property with floods and landslides. Costa Rica has been hit particularly hard due troubles delivering aid and the lack of water supply. Panama, Colombia, Guatemala and Nicaragua have pledged aid to Costa Rica, but since there is so much flooding, rain, bridge failure, and mass wastage, they have to fly the aid into remote areas, which can be a difficult process. Much damage has been done to a community, Pico Blanco in San Antonio de Escazú, on the mountainside near the capital. Alot of the disaster aid is coming in the form of bottled water because some of their water processing plants have been damaged by the bad weather.

In addition to water and transportation, Costa Rica is taking a hard hit on its economy which is largely based on agriculture and tourism. A large amount of crop land is flooded, and many tourists may be detered from visiting Costa Rica due to the weather.

In addition to looking at the geography aspect of this. the political side is also interesting. Even though Nicaragua has pledged aid to Costa Rica, the supplies and money have yet to be sent. This is due to a long time rivalry between the two countries. Also, this is a good example that even better off countries in the western hemisphere can experience disasters, however on a much smaller scale than they would have been in a less developed country.

Landslide damage in Pico Blanco

Links to new stories on the landslide and damage to the country due to floods and landslides:

http://www.ticotimes.net/News/Daily-News/Escazu-Landslide-Leaves-at-Least-20-Dead-10-Missing-Costa-Rica-on-Red-Alert_Thursday-November-04-2010
http://www.amcostarica.com/morenews2.htm

http://www.insidecostarica.com/dailynews/2010/november/07/costarica10110701.htm