No, this image is not Photoshopped. It comes from Guatemala City today, where damage from a tropical storm – including 3 giant sinkholes – has forced 120,000 people to evacuate. Here's how you can help refugees. Over at BoingBoing, Xeni Jardin is doing a great job covering the ongoing crisis, and has pointed to some groups where you can send donations. The primary concern right now is food. Crops have been wiped out, and subsistence farming communities risk starvation. But people also need shelter and medical supplies. From BoingBoing: Guatemala is in a state of crisis today after twin natural calamities struck: First, the Pacaya volcano (just 19 miles from the capital) woke up in a bad mood. Lava flowed, black sand and rock and ash spewed everywhere. A newscaster covering the event, near the volcano, was killed by flying rocks. Then, tropical storm “Agatha” struck, destroying homes, causing floods, and creating tens of thousands of internally displaced. Infrastructure in this country-where the majority live in poverty-is very poor, and ill-equipped to handle such a double blow. As of last night, official numbers on storm: about 30,000 “refugees,” close to 120,000 evacuated, 93 dead and rising. The poorest always suffer the most when events like this happen, and the two events together caused surreal conditions: knee-deep black sand mud, and “instant concrete” which formed when rains met ash, clogging up drains and laying waste to fragile sewage systems. Said a friend on Twitter, “Water and sand everywhere… it's like the beach, only a lot less fun.” http://io9.com/5551931/tropical-storm-agatha-opens-up-massive-horrifying-sinkhol… added by: pjacobs51
