COLOMBIA’S president Gustavo Petro decreed a national disaster yesterday after record-breaking rainfalls killed more than 200 people in recent months.

Rain levels recorded in 2022 so far have been “the highest in the last 40 years”, he told reporters in Bogota before departing for Venezuela for a meeting with his counterpart Nicolas Maduro.

Resultant flooding killed 266 people, Petro said, while crop losses aggravated rising food inflation.

He pointed to climate change and the cyclical La Nina weather system for the record rains.

A state of national disaster would allow the government to give US$100 (RM474) a month – half the minimum wage – to feed the children in households headed by women, and to subsidize fertilisers used by small-scale farmers, the president said.

He also ordered the creation of special “committees” to see to it that people in areas affected by floods or crop losses receive three meals a day.

In September, Colombia recorded annual inflation of 11.4%, the highest in 23 years, with food prices among those rising the fastest. – AFP, November 2, 2022.