Red Cross aids Guyana drought victims

In regional news the Red Cross will begin intensive relief operations this weekend in the interior of Guyana. Over four hundred and fifty thousand U.S. dollars has been raised in a special campaign to help support fifteen hundred Amerindian families whose survival has been jeopardized by severe drought. In addition to food like rice, beans, flour and cooking oil the recipients, who live in remote villages, will be supplied with hand tools and seeds to grow crops during the upcoming planting season. The government of Guyana declared a state of emergency in March when, due to the effect of El Niño, the rains which normally drench the nation never materialized.