Attachments
Highlights:
- Since January 1st, 2,703 landslides (41%) events and floods (38%) occurred due to heavy rainfall.
- 24 provinces, 205 cantons, and 763 parishes are currently affected, mainly on the coastal and highland regions.
- To coordinate the response, there are 147 Emergency Operations Committees activated, at the province, canton, and parish levels.
- Over 150,000 people affected so far, and over 30,000 in need.
- 112 education institutions severely affected, and 567 need infrastructure restoration.
- Essential infrastructure, such as roads and bridges, are vastly affected.
- Over 19,000 Ha of agricultural land are completely lost, causing loss of income, livelihoods, and produce.
- The province of Esmeraldas is affected both by floods as well as a large oil spill that outpoured into rivers and ocean, affecting several communities.
SITUATION OVERVIEW AND HUMANITARIAN NEEDS
Ecuador is currently facing a devastating rainy season. According to the Risks Management Secretariat (SGR), from January 1st, 2025, to the reporting date, there has been 2,703 adverse events registered due to heavy rainfall. This figure represents 53% increase compared to the same period of 2024.
The most recurrent adverse events due to heavy rainfall are landslides (40,92%), floods (38,14%), and structural collapse (6,20%), amongst others such as strong winds and alluvium. 24 provinces ( the total number in the country) are currently affected, especially on the coastal and highland regions. Particularly, El Oro, Esmeraldas, Guayas, Manabí, Los Ríos, and Santa Elena provinces remain under red alert upon RESOLUTION No. SNGR-046-2025 issued on February 24th.
To coordinate the response there are 147 Emergency Operations Committees (COE) at the province, canton, and parish levels activated. Additionally, the SGR through RESOLUTION No. SNGR-050-2025, declared a regional emergency for a period of 60 days, due to the magnitude and recurrence of the events and the impact they have on people.
This impact also reflects on essential infrastructure and services. Likewise, the above-mentioned Resolution facilitates mobilisation of financial and human resources to the most affected provinces and communities.
Since January 1st, there are 151,399 people affected (41% in Manabí province, followed by Los Ríos and Guayas provinces) out of them approximately 69,000 are children and adolescents. Likewise, there are 30,899 people are in need (80% in Manabí province), as well as 39 people deceased and hundreds injured. The weather forecast for the next week anticipates that atmospheric conditions continue to generate heavy to extremely heavy rains with thunderstorms and gusty winds. Therefore, the situation is likely to keep worsening, affecting more people.
The province of Manabí, on the coastal region, is disproportionally affected by the adverse events with 87,882 people impacted, approximately 42,000 children and adolescents. Other provinces severely affected are Los Ríos, Guayas, El Oro, Santa Elena, and Esmeraldas, all of them located along the coastal region, and Loja on the highland region. The province of Esmeraldas requires special attention since it is also affected by a severe crude oil spill that outpoured into rivers and eventually into the ocean, contaminating water sources and the environment, affecting over 113,000 people (see Situation Report 1 – Oil Spill in Esmeraldas). In this province, the adverse weather events impacted over 2,400 people (over 850 children and adolescents).
Regarding people in need of shelter, there are 39 institutions, such as schools, chapels, and other public reunion venues, adapted as temporary shelters in the most affected provinces. A total of 445 families (1,340 persons) are in official temporary shelters. 10 of these temporary shelters are education institutions hosting 44% of all people in need of shelter, distributed as follows: 3 in Guayas, 3 in Manabí, 2 in Los Ríos, 1 in Loja, and 1 in Santa Elena. Except for Loja, the rest of the provinces are in the coastal region, where the school year begins shortly May 5, 2025, with the potential risk of delaying it in several provinces. In the highland and Amazon regions, the school year is ongoing and finishes in September.
According to the Ministry of Education (MoE) Early Warning Monitoring System, currently there are a total of 679 education institutions affected by the heavy rainfall. 104 education institutions with a total of 54,702 students registered were severely impacted by the heavy rainfall and adverse weather events and are classified with level of damage 3-medium (56 institutions), 4-high (35 institutions), and 5-very high (13 institutions). 24 education institutions classified with level of damage 4 or 5 are in the highland and Amazon regions, and 6 of them enabled the education continuity plan on a remote basis, 12 of them on a face-to-face basis, and 6 continue as usual.
In Manabí province, there are 12 impacted schools, 4 of them classified with level of damage 4 and 5, whereas the rest of them are classified with level 3. A total of 6,574 students are registered in the affected education institutions. In Esmeraldas, there are 2 affected education institutions (24 students) classified with level 4. Other severely affected provinces in terms of education are Guayas (23 institutions, 25,813 students); El Oro (6 schools, 4,295 students); Los Ríos (8 institutions, 5,859 students); and Santa Elena (2 schools, 1,366 students) in the coastal region, and Loja (23 schools, 2,749 students) in the highland region.
UNICEF Ecuador identified humanitarian needs in the most affected communities, such as limited access to potable and safe water, weakened sanitation system, loss of income and livelihoods – especially those related to agriculture – and restricted access to primary healthcare. In-kind humanitarian assistance was delivered by the SGR, such as water tanks, chlorine sachets, first response food items kits, and complementary food kits, hygiene kits, amongst other, to cover essential needs identified. Nonetheless, the situation keeps worsening due to the heavy rainfall forecasts.
Additionally, water contamination from broken sewage systems can lead to water-borne diseases like gastroenteritis, being children under 5 and pregnant women at a higher risk. Stagnant water can become a breeding ground for mosquitoes, increasing the risk of vector-borne diseases such as dengue which in Guayas and Manabí the Ministry of Public Health identified 487 cases this week (4,065 cases since week 1).
Although official assessments do not gather information on mental health, UNICEF expects impacts to be significant in affected communities experiencing stress, anxiety, and depression due to displacement, loss of homes, and livelihoods, and is especially concerned about children and adolescents that might not be able to begin the school year on time.
The Government of Ecuador has issued a formal request to the UN System to activate the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) to support the response both to the oil spill in Esmeraldas and to the impacts of heavy rainfall across the country.