San Salvador, Nov 12 (EFE) Relief materials from different countries and aid organisations have begun to arrive for the flood affected people in El Salvador, as the toll has risen to 157 following a devastating storm last weekend.
Officials said 58 people are still missing days after Hurricane Ida hit the country.

Thousands of people have also been displaced in floods and mudslides caused by the storm.

“Various governments, through their ambassadors, and in some other cases directly … have called me to express to us their solidarity and, at the same time, to respond in an immediate manner to the demands this emergency creates,” President Mauricio Funes has said.

“I’m taking this moment to express my acknowledgment of the solidarity,” he told a gathering Wednesday.

Torrential rains continued in five of El Salvador’s 14 provinces since Hurricane Ida made landfall last weekend.

Donations have arrived from the US, Japan, Nicaragua and Venezuela, as well as from the UNICEF and Red Cross. The relief items are being distributed at 132 emergency shelters where more than 14,000 flood affected people are housed.

Spanish aid agency AECID said an aircraft carrying relief material has already arrived here from Panama.

Venezuela’s ambassador to El Salvador, Vladimir Tirado, told EFE that Caracas has sent a cargo plane with 20 tonnes of food, water, medicine, blankets and construction materials.

The US has also flown in 60 tonnes of water, personal hygiene kits and other items. It has also provided five military helicopters to help distribute the goods.