They are also beginning to cut water services in order to conserve our limited supplies.
Another effect of this drought is incendios, or forest fires. These are often a result of stray fires and dry underbrush, but there are also many people who believe that setting fires will bring rain. This is because years and years ago, during a previous drought, they set fires and rain did come, but by chance! However, this coincidence left a lasting belief that fires will bring rain. So, even today people will start these fires. But when the rain doesn't come, the small flames turn into devastating, raging public crises. The emergency services have recently been battling several forest fires in the region where I live, which destroyed miles and miles of nature and towns.
The community has really come together to tackle these environmental challenges. Many people have started campaigns to help firefighters combat the forest fires; to help wildlife that has been displaced; and to bring aid to the affected communities. There are also huge campaigns to educate the public on proper water and energy-conservation.
While this dry time has been a challenge for all people living in Ecuador, they are hopeful that it will start raining soon, and that the struggling environment will recieve the water and recuperation it needs. A silver lining to this experience is that many people, myself included, have been made aware of just how much energy and water we use on a daily basis, and we are, as a result, learning environmentally-friendly habits to reduce that.
