国际英语新闻：Guatemala gov't raises Agatha death toll to 152

MEXICO CITY, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The government of Guatemala has raised the official death toll to 152 for the floods that followed Tropical Storm Agatha that struck the nation at the weekend, according to news reaching here on Tuesday.

A total of 124,835 people have now been evacuated from disaster areas and 64,383 are being looked after in emergency shelters, according to the National Disaster Reduction Coordination (Conared), which held a press conference on Tuesday morning.

Conared officials also said that there were 42,286 people made homeless and 87 injured by Agatha, which was the first named storm of the Pacific hurricane season. Conared said that 18 bridges had collapsed across the nation.

The government had earlier said that total damage would be at least 500 million Quetzales (about 63 millon U.S. dollars), based on the amount it would cost to repair and rebuild housing. The government also said that it would reopen La Aurora International Airport later on Tuesday.

The airport had been closed since Thursday because of the eruption of the Pacaya Volcano, 40 kilometers south of the capital Guatemala City, which showered the capital and seven other municipalities with ash and sand.

Guatemala has received pledges of financial and physical aid from Mexico, the United States, the European Union, Colombia and Venezuela.

Agatha also killed citizens and wrecked property in El Salvador and Honduras, Guatemala's neighbours to the south; and dumped rain on southern Mexican state Chiapas.

There were 14 deaths in Honduras and nine in El Salvador.