EARTH Magazine: El Niño disaster stunted children's growth

Alexandria, VA-- Children born during, and up to three years after, the devastating 1997-1998 El Niño event in northern Peru were found to be shorter than their peers in a new study covered in EARTH Magazine. The rising waters wiped out crops, drowned livestock, cut off bridges, and caused prolonged famine in many rural villages. Now, a new study that tracked long-term health impacts on children from the affected region has found that a decade later, the children continue to bear signs of the hardship endured early in their lives.

Learn how the children's health was impacted by El Niño, and how geoscience can be used to help communities better plan and prepare for environmental disasters in the March issue of EARTH Magazine: http://www.earthmagazine.org/article/el-nino-disaster-stunted-childrens-growth....

For more stories about the science of our planet, check out EARTH magazine online or subscribe at http://www.earthmagazine.org. The March issue, now available for download features stories on the asbestos controversy unfolding in Nevada, new satellite maps of carbon dioxide sources, and an ongoing, multi-million dollar treasure hunt in the U.S. Rocky Mountains.

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Keep up to date with the latest happenings in Earth, energy and environment news with EARTH magazine online at: http://www.earthmagazine.org/. Published by the American Geosciences Institute, EARTH is your source for the science behind the headlines.

The American Geosciences Institute is a nonprofit federation of geoscientific and professional associations that represents more than 250,000 geologists, geophysicists and other earth scientists. Founded in 1948, AGI provides information services to geoscientists, serves as a voice of shared interests in the profession, plays a major role in strengthening geoscience education, and strives to increase public awareness of the vital role the geosciences play in society's use of resources, resiliency to natural hazards, and interaction with the environment.