UNCHA - Guatamelan Drought Worst In 30 Years - 1st Harvest Damaged, 2nd Harvest Damage Likely - AFP

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The United Nations warned Friday that Guatemala is facing its worst drought in three decades, and that at least 2.5 million people have been affected by the crisis.

"The country is facing the worst drought in 30 years, which has triggered a food crisis," said Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

"The effects of El Nino have extended the dry spell, which has caused a reduction and loss of agricultural production affecting some 2.5 million people in 21 provinces," she added.

The situation has claimed some 460 lives since the beginning of the year, according to Guatemalan officials, and the country's President Alvaro Colom has declared it a "public calamity." Most of the deaths occurred in the impoverished northern section of Guatemala bordering Mexico, where more than half of the region's 13 million inhabitants subsist below the poverty line.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Guatemala_in_worst_drought_in_30_years_UN_999.html