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Home , Guatemala City, Hurricane Nana (2020), Puerto Armuelles

WFP & CARIBBEAN REGION

COVID-19 Logistics Situation Update #8

9 September 2020 Date 07 July 2020

Month YYYY

1. Highlights

Constraints Atlantic Hurricane Season

• Hurricane Nana (Category 1): Tropical Storm Nana brought heavy rain, some damage to , and , no deaths or injuries have been reported after the storm came ashore on 3 September as a category 1 hurricane. Nana dissipated near Guatemala / border within the same that it came ashore. • Tropical Storm Paulette (Earliest P-named storm in the history): Paulette may become a hurricane and it is no immediate land threat and may never threaten land with the exception of Islands. Paulette is currently located over the Central Tropical Atlantic and it is moving north-westward with 16 km/h speed and with its current path Paulette is expected to reach Bermuda Islands on 15 September. Current maximum sustained windspeed is 101 km/h with higher gusts. • Tropical Storm Rene (Earliest R-named storm in the history): Rene may become a hurricane, but it may also succumb to the wind shear that may affect Paulette and may also track over the cooler water left behind from Paulette. Rene is currently located over the Eastern Tropical and it is moving west north-westward with 24 km/h speed. It is no immediate land threat and may never threaten land. Current maximum sustained windspeed is 101 km/h with higher gusts. • : Substantial flooding is being reported across Chiriquí Province due to adverse weather on 6 September. It is believed multiple rivers have flooded, primarily in David and districts. There are additional reports of landslides in the , and some sources suggest power outages occurred. There are no reported injuries.

Earthquakes

| 1 WFP LAC COVID-19 Logistics Situation Update #8

9 September 2020 • : A magnitude 6.3 earthquake was recorded 45 km NW of Ovalle at a depth of 30.7 km on 5 September. No damage or injuries were reported, and no tsunami warnings was issued. • Panama: A magnitude 5.3 earthquake was recorded 141 km SSE of Cambutal, Panama over Pacific Ocean at a depth of 10 kms on 2 September. No damage or injuries were reported, and no tsunami warnings was issued. • Panama: A magnitude 5.6 earthquake was recorded 15 km west-northwest of Puerto Armuelles, Chiriquí Province at a depth of 8.7 km on 4 September. No damage or injuries were reported, and no tsunami warnings was issued.

Lockdown

• has extended the closure of land and sea borders until 1 October, while internal restrictions in Bogota and Medellin will be eased from 1 September. • Peruvian Authorities extended a nationwide state of emergency until 30 September. • Chile extended its COVID-19 related state of catastrophe until 25 September. • extended state of emergency and curfew restrictions till October. Air

• AeroMexico is increasing its flight frequency and it has received %75 recovery amid COVID-19. • Guatemala City Airport (Guatemala) and Airport () will be reopening to international passenger flights starting from 18 September. is expected to reopen to international passenger flights as of October. • Although many countries are extending closures for commercial passenger flights, an increased activity of U.S. Carriers in and the Caribbean is being observed. In addition to that, European Carriers are also adding frequencies and new destinations for their repatriation operations. Countries that have either extended current restrictions or postponed the re-opening of their airports for commercial passenger flights are as follows: o 12 September: (closed) o 17 September: Guatemala (closed), El Salvador (restricted) o 14-18-23-26 September: Chile (restricted), Suriname (closed), Panama (restricted), (restricted) o 1 October: (restricted), Trinidad & Tobago (closed), Peru (closed), Bolivia (closed) o 6 October: Uruguay (restricted) o 14-18 October: Belize (closed), (restricted) o 30 November: Honduras (restricted) Land

• Chile: Truckers strike that was affecting all export, import and local shipments within the country since 27 August ended on 4 September.

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• Panama/Costa Rica Border Crossing: Panamanian truckers were protesting convoy procedures applied by the Costa Rican Authorities as it was taking 5 days to cross border from Panamanian side (Pena Blanca) to Costa Rican side (). Panamanian Authorities closed border crossing to negotiate a solution with their Costa Rican counterparties. Eventually Costa Rican Authorities confirmed that they will be lifting current restrictions as of 9 September and Panamanian Customs Authority re-opened Pena Blanca border for cargo transport on 4 September.

Services

• Guatemala: The CO is still working on the food procurement process on behalf of the Guatemalan Government. • : The CO continues to provide on-demand logistics services including the provision of 500 gallons of fuel and transport to the IOM office in Tabarre and storage services for PAHO/WHO. • Honduras: The CO is considering the possibility of creating a service provision activity in its CSP. • The WFP Common Covid-19 Logistics Services continues to deliver critical response items to the LAC region, both directly to destination countries from the WFP hub in and via WFP’s hub based in UNHRD Panama. • Cargo ex UNHRD Panama is mainly being shipped for WHO/PAHO and UNICEF and most shipments are taking place via commercial air freight, with some exception being chartered by WFP aviation, including a flight to Ecuador with PPE end August in the reporting period. • The WFP passenger flight schedule for humanitarian personnel for September with exception of current week with no flights is as follows; o On Tuesdays, starting from 1 September: ▪ (Toluca Airport) – Guatemala City – – San Salvador (After 17 September, this leg will be cancelled) – . ▪ Bogota – Panama City – Bogota. o On Wednesdays, starting from 2 September: Panama City – Port-au-Prince – – Panama City. o On Thursdays, starting from 17 September: Panama City – San Salvador (After 17 September, this leg will be cancelled) - Tegucigalpa - Guatemala City – Mexico City (Toluca Airport). • In addition to scheduled flights, following ad-hoc flights were operated last week: o 4 September: Panama City – Caracas – Panama City o 5 September: Panama City – San Salvador – Tegucigalpa – Guatemala City – Mexico City (Toluca Airport). Bookings must be made as soon as possible through the Humanitarian Booking Hub and no later than 7 days before the flights.

Page | 3 WFP COVID-19 Logistics Situation Updates #8 . 9 September 2020

2. Contacts

John Myraunet Logistics Officer [email protected] Samuel Kealey Logistics Officer [email protected] Nafi Mert Kazmirci Logistics Officer [email protected]

Page | 4 WFP COVID-19 Logistics Situation Updates #8 . 9 September 2020