.
.
26 April 2021 (openDemocracy) On 7 April 2020 in the Ecuadorian Amazon, the Napo and Coca rivers flowed dark with oil and fuel.
The spill, caused by three ruptured pipelines, triggered the worst environmental disaster to hit Ecuador in the past 15 years. Some 15,000 gallons of oil and fuel spilled into the rivers, affecting 35,000 people directly and more than 120,000 indirectly, many of them Kichwa Indigenous people from 105 communities.
“We can see oil coming down the riverbed, help us report what is happening,” Olger Gallo, president of the Kichwa community of Panduyaku, told me at the time.
“The young people went out fishing in the early morning and when they returned their bodies were covered in oil. We need urgent help,” he added.
A triple pandemic strikes the Ecuadorian Amazon
opendemocracy.net - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from opendemocracy.net Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Indigenous communities march for justice a year on from devastating Amazon oil spill
nationofchange.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nationofchange.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
On April 7, 2020 in the Ecuadorian Amazon, the Napo and Coca rivers turned dark with oil and fuel from three ruptured pipelines, producing the worst environmental disaster of the last 15 years. More than 15,000 gallons (almost 57,000 liters) spilled into the rivers, affecting 35,000 people directly and more than 120,000 indirectly, many of them Kichwa indigenous people from 105 communities.
I contacted Olger Gallo, president of the Kichwa community of Panduyaku. âWe see oil coming down the riverbed, help us report what is happening,â he said. âThe young people went out fishing in the early morning and when they returned their bodies were covered in oil. We need urgent help,â he told me.