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VIDEO | 'National tragedy' in Guatemala as landslides kill dozens
Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom declared a "national tragedy" on Sunday after landslides killed at least 36 people and left rescuers digging in the mud for dozens still missing.
"It's a national tragedy," Colom said as he visited a site where up to 40 people were feared to have been buried alive in a mudslide.
"This weekend alone we have seen damage comparable to what we experienced with Agatha," he said, referring to a tropical storm in May that killed 165 Guatemalans and left thousands homeless.
Officials said 40,000 people had lost their homes and another 11,686 had been evacuated.
"Top priority at present is dealing with this emergency," Colom said as he toured the devastation and put the cost of the damage, in one of the poorest countries in the Americas, at up to 500 million dollars.
Rescuers on Sunday dug nine bodies out of a 300-meter (1,000-foot) deep ravine off the main Pan-American Highway, west of the capital Guatemala City.
