Ecuador declares national emergency amid wildfires, drought

QUITO -- Ecuador declared a 60-day national emergency to tackle wildfires, water shortages and drought afflicting the South American country, said Energy Minister Ines Manzano on Monday.

Seventeen active fires and five controlled ones were reported in different parts of the country, with the southern provinces of Azuay and Loja being the hardest-hit provinces, said the minister in a press release.

The National Risk Management Secretariat "is leading the coordination of resources to support the work of firefighters in both provinces," it said.

Extreme drought has plunged Ecuador into an unprecedented energy crisis, forcing the government to announce large-scale power cuts since September that can last up to eight hours.

Under normal conditions, the main hydroelectric plants supply 90 percent of the nation's power, but their reservoirs remain depleted due to lack of rain.