Ecuador has declared a 60-day state of national emergency due to forest fires, water shortages and drought in the South American country, Energy Minister Inés Manzano said on Monday.

Seventeen active fires and five extinguished fires have been recorded in different parts of the country, with the provinces of Azuay and Loja the most affected, the minister said in a press release.

The National Secretariat for Risk Management ‘is leading the coordination of resources to support the work of firefighters in both provinces’, the statement added.

A severe drought has plunged Ecuador into an unprecedented electricity crisis, forcing the government to impose massive blackouts of up to eight hours a day since September.