Paraguay announces aid plan for hailstorm victims

Paraguay announced an aid plan Monday for victims of weekend hailstorms that killed two people and damaged thousands of homes in several parts of the country, according to reports monitored here. "We are attending to the people in terms of everyday essentials, a roof over their heads and their families' health, which are the most important things right now," said Vice President Juan Afara. He is heading the Paraguayan government in the absence of President Horacio Cartes, who is attending the UN General Assembly in New York. The president "called us and told us the government should do everything possible" to help the people, Afara said in Paraguay's capital Asuncion. According to Afara, some 10,000 families were left homeless by the hail that fell on Saturday and Sunday, destroying not just homes, but also crops, especially in the department of Caaguazu and its capital of the same name. On Tuesday, the government will begin implementing the second part of the aid) plan to help small-scale farmers by giving the people seeds so they can plant again, Afara said. Afara said he will be meeting with ministers and local authorities to coordinate the distribution of aid.