Radio wave absorption data for a number of stations have been utilized in studying the response of the low-latitude D region toward solar particle events reported by Explorer 34. A large increase in ionization even at the equatorial latitude has been observed associated with the particle events; these increases in absorption are sometimes delayed by a few days in comparison with the corresponding increases in high-energy proton counts, though in general, the delay is less than that for most intense events. These ionization increases could be due to precipitated electrons from the inner belt with a flux of less than 104 el cm-2 s-1 sr-1 for E>40 keV.