High wind and UV warnings issued; Tram hits drunk at Feria Libre market; Azuay high-altitude coffee production increases; Many children are unregistered

Lunes, 9/8/2021

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –

Titular –

París toma la posta (Paris takes the post) – Closing of the 2020 Summer Olympics – sports, so you’re on your own.

Cuenca –

Alerta por ráfagas de viento (Wind gust alert) – Emergency services in Azuay are issuing warnings about strong winds which can reach speeds of up to 70 km/hr which can cause damage. <And you Floridians are wondering what’s all the worry over a nice cooling breeze?> Ángel Montalvo, an environomental engineer, said the contons with the greatest risk of being affected are Pucará, Santa Isabel, Girón y San Fernanco which are in the río Jobones watershed. Eastern cantons of Azuay such as Sígsig, Chordeleg, Paute, Sevilla de oro, El Pan and Guachapala are also at risk. Damage to electrical lines and communications antenna has been reported in the cantons at the higher elevations of El Oro Province. Another environmental engineer, Marcelo Proaño, said the winds are a product of temperature change, especially in the early morning hours and late afternoons. He also warned that this month will see high levels of solar radiation with UV indexes between 13 & 16 which is considered very high. He recommended that property owners check on the security of their roofs, doors and windows to reduce the risk of wind impact. <The building codes in Cuenca probably aren’t nearly as stringent as those in Florida, either, so maybe 70 km/hr. could cause damage.>

The installation of a new pedestrian bridge in Challuabamba is slowing traffic on the Azogues autopista. (El Mercurio)

Hoy colocarán el puente en Nulti (Bridge in Nulti installed today) – MTOP (Ministerio de Transporte y Obras) started work on installing a pedestrian bridge in Nulti on the vía Cuenca-Azogues today (lunes). The 22 m. long bridge collapsed when it was hit by a container truck el 22/1/2020. The highway was closed from 7:30 to 14:00 with drivers being directed to alternate routes. <I hope it wasn’t one of those detours where you’re told to “exit here” and then you never see another sign telling you where to get back on.>

Uso de triple funda negra de basura para evitir contagios (Use of triple black garbage bags to avoid contagion) – Covid garbage is bagged two different ways. The first, for the general population, is to triple bag it in regular black garbage bags. Red bags are used by health facilities for biohazard waste that doesn’t include cortopunzantes (sharps <Anything that can make a hole in you – needles, scissors, scalpels, etc.>). The red bags also include infectious waste and pharmaceuticals and are picked up by 3 trucks from 3,000 locations in Cuenca, Déleg, Gualaceo, y Chordeleg. They are taken to a Planta de Esterilización where they are washed in 2 sterilizers, each with a 2,000 liter capacity. 3 tons of waste are processed daily with 5% taken to be incinerated. The general public is asked to not use red bags – just the triple black bags, even when there is not Covid in the household. Masks and gloves are considered Covid garbage and should be triple bagged and never thrown out into the open where they present a risk to street sweepers, garbage collectors and recyclers.

Medicamentos – Expired medicines can be deposited in Farmasol pharmacies located in Los Nogales, Eucalyptos y av. Diez de Agosto.

Sucesos –

Tranvía involucrado en atropello (Tram involved in hit-and-run) – Ayer, a man was hit by a tram on De Las Américas in the Feria Libre sector. According to witnesses, he was drunk and crossed the street at a location unsafe for pedestrians. He was pretreated by first responders and taken to the hospital Vicente Corral Moscoso with a cut on la sien (temple – our word for the day), politraumas, and he had alcohol on his breath. The tram driver was retained. Investigators are looking into the accident. The tram service was suspended for about an hour.

Bomberos controla incendio forestal (Firefighters control forest fire) – The Cuenca fire department put out a fire along rhe Circunvalación Sur near the entrance to the El Valle parish. Witnesses said the fire was started by people wandering through the area.

Quema de madera moviliza a bomberos (Wood burning mobilizes firefighters) – 911 was alerted to a forest fire in the Chiquintad parish. When firefighters arrived they determined that there was a controlled burning of wood in an empty house. Firefighters also responded to a house fire, possibly from a short circuit, in the Cuatro Esquinas sector of the Ricuarte parish. <I guess we’ve moved on from the flooding and landslide stories to the fire stories.>

Region –

La producción de café, una alternativa que reeactiva la economía (Coffee production, an alternative that reactivates the economy) – Paúl Guanuche, of the Asociación Pequeños Productores de Café “Nueva Fátima-Yanasacha” in Nabón, markets their coffee with the “Café Yanasacha” brand. Guanuche is one of 128 producers registered by the Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería in Azuay. He and 9 companions each work a hectar and half at 2,400 meters above sea level (m.s.n.m.). They process and sell their coffee in Nabón and Cuenca, and send orders to the US. There is also coffee grown at high altitudes in Santa Isabel canton including by large private growers. The Asociación de Productores de Café del cantón Santa Isabel (Asoprocsi) was formed 17 years ago and includes 37 growers whose brand is “Café Guayara.” According to Germán Vega, a member of the association, the higher the area of production, the higher the quality of coffee in terms of aroma and flavor. Asoprocsi wants to include growers in the Yunguilla valley who lack a market to join so that together they can take advantage of an export market.

Nacional –

Un 16% de los niños no son registrados (16% of children are not registered) – 16% of the children born or found in Ecuador are not formally registered so that authorities cannot follow up with them to offer services such as nutritional or health assistance. Erwin Ronquillo, technical secretary of “Ecuador Crece sin Desnutrición Infantil” (Ecuador Grows without Child Malnutrition) lamented that number and cited factors such as the pandemic, poverty, or births outside of an institution. He said it was serious because they can’t reach those children with help and social programs.

And that’s all for today so hasta ? –

Jeanne
__________________

Editor’s note: Jeanne’s Periodico is a translated digest of news from the Cuenca daily newspaper El Mercurio. If details, such as event dates and times, do not appear in the translation, they did not appear in the newspaper (please don’t ask her for them). The text between the carrots, or guillemets (< … >), is Jeanne’s personal opinion and not part of the news translation.