Add four more lives lost to the terrible toll that flooding is inflicting on Bolivia.  Heavy rains caused a mudslide that buried a small settlement, killing at least four people.  Nine more people are listed as missing.

Rescue squads were digging through the site in the Quechua community of Chuypakasa, in hopes of finding more survivors in the buried the homes of 15 families.

Heavy rains have been falling across most of Bolivia since November and an estimated 46,800 families have been routed.  The Ministry of Defense had already flown in food aid to, and the army was evacuating families from the worst affected regions northeast of the capital La Paz.

The flooding is also threatening Bolivia’s agriculture sector – Around 100,000 head of cattle are threatened and some 6,000 hectares of crops have been destroyed.