Rising waters havoc at Lake Titicaca

[sasha031]

THOUSANDS of Bolivian villagers living on the fringes of Lake Titicaca have lost homes and crops after weeks of heavy rains that led the Government to declare a state of emergency.Across Bolivia, tens of thousands of people have been hit by floods and landslides and more than 20 have been killed, presenting President Evo Morales with his first natural disaster since he took office last month.Lake Titicaca has been rising about 2.5cm a day in recent weeks, devouring hundreds of metres of the fertile shoreline, where mud-brick cottages stand amid plots of flowering potatoes, peas and pasture.The tiny lakeside village of Belen B was flooded for days after a river burst its banks.

Titicaca, the world's highest navigable lake, swelled to a height of 3810.03m earlier this week, just shy of the 3811.28m record set in 1986, according to the government news service ABI.At Guaqui, close to the Peruvian border, port officers said the waters had risen nearly 36cm in a month. It is estimated that for 0.5 cm the waters rise, the lake advances two or three metres into shore.

Mr Morales toured the flooded areas around the lake and to the west of La Paz in the Andean plateau on Wednesday. Earlier in the week he announced $US200,000 ($270,000) to help La Paz province, while countries including Venezuela and the US have pledged aid for flood victims.
http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,20281,18176943-5001028,00.html