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Guatemala Tragedies

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Guatemala Tragedies Guatemala’s economy is extremely poor compared to other countries. “The poor are getting poorer” is due to the low spending causing a poor infrastructure and slow growth. 40 percent of the country’s poor live on $1.50 per day. Guatemala’s economy has been growing steadily, but has been supported by private consumption. In other words, the government receives money based on what the people are buying for their households. The Guatemalan government fails to collect taxes from a large portion of their population. Therefore, the lack of money puts their economy in great risk when natural disasters occur. Their geography contains hills, mountains, poor soil, and volcanos. It is extremely difficult to build safe, secure houses with the lack of money and resources. People everyday live unsure when a natural disaster will strike and they are unable to protect their loved ones. Guatemala receives around 10 feet of rain during a 5 month rainy …show more content…

Most of the the people live on the flat land at the bottom of mountain or hill causing them to be more susceptible to the tragedies that comes with landslides. Guatemala receives over 10 feet of rain in a 5 month rainy period which leads to a tremendous amount of erosion. At the same time, when the farmers plant their crops, the soil is burned and used to plant the same plants in the same exact spot. The problem with replanting in the same crop, in the same spot, and burning the dry, dead crops at the end of the season is that it makes the soil degrade and erode faster. With as much erosion Guatemala’s soil has dealt with, the ground is not capable enough to hold the rainwater during the rainy season causing the dangerous landslides that had become natural to their community. Volcanos also play a huge part in landslides because of the erosion, the shaking of the earth is capable of releasing large amounts of land from the earth. (Townsend

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