The Amazon Region is experiencing one of the worst droughts in its history. A combination of extreme weather events linked to the warming of the waters in the Pacific and North Atlantic oceans has significantly reduced rainfall throughout the region, and the area's rivers are approaching their lowest levels on record. The conditions threaten the livelihoods of approximately 200,000 people, and Brazilian officials say more than half a million people could be at risk of isolation and supply shortages in communities only accessible by rivers, some of which have already dried up. Yan Boechat travels to the region to report on the situation for VOA.
Brazil's Amazon Region Faces Devastating Drought
- By Yan Boechat
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Entire communities living in floating houses on the tributaries of the Amazon River are stuck in the mud, without access to water, like this one in the Puraquequara River, in Manaus, Oct. 3, 2023.
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Fisherman Stelio Rodrigues, 72, has lived on the Puraquequara River for more than 30 years and cannot recall seeing the waters drop as much as they have this year, in Manaus, Oct. 3, 2023.
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An abandoned canoe sits in one of the many lakes that dried up around the state capital of Amazonas, in Manaus, Oct. 3, 2023.
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Fishermen prepare to remove a small boat from the dry riverbed of the Puraquequara River to find a point with access to the Amazon River to continue their work, Oct. 3, 2023.
