After the landslide that buried several vehicles and a house on the highway that connects Medellín and Quibdó, the capital of Chocó, 10 people remain missing, and there are about 20 injured, which is why President Gustavo Petro declared a state of natural disaster and announced resources to alleviate the crisis.
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The avalanche occurred last Friday, January 12, amid intense rains that destabilized the mountainous terrain. About 50 people were taking shelter from the rain inside a house in the town of Carmen de Atrato that was boarded up, and others were crushed by the mud inside their vehicles.
The Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences reported in a statement that all of the 36 fatalities have been identified and that 33 bodies have been handed over to their families.
The tragedy of Chocó: apathy and inequality
The declaration of a state of disaster will allow the allocation of resources to respond to the emergency to be expedited, President Gustavo Petro announced on Sunday after flying over the affected area.
The president announced the transfer of some 500,000 million pesos (about 128 million dollars), which will go from the coffers of the National Infrastructure Agency to those of the National Highway Institute, and will be used to finish unfinished works at the site of the tragedy. In addition, they will serve for “slope securing work that allows the safety of the road,” as Petro reported.
The Colombian president regretted the “laziness” that in his opinion is behind the deadly avalanche, and assured that The fact that Chocó is the poorest department in the country has historically kept it relegated on the priority list.
The National Disaster Risk Management Unit has not specified the causes that led to the collapse, which is being attended to by about 60 rescuers and police officers grouped in a unified command led by the Chocó Governorate.
The authorities remain alert to the weather conditions, because it is believed that the landslide was due to the intense rains that affected the region until the weekend, but that have subsided this Monday, facilitating the search for survivors. or other bodies.
Words of encouragement for the Chocoan people
Pope Francis conveyed words of solidarity through a telegram that the Vatican Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, shared with the Government of Colombia.
In the communication, the Supreme Pontiff declared himself “deeply saddened to learn of the natural disaster that is affecting the Chocó region,” and offered “fervent suffrages for the eternal repose of the deceased.”
Francisco's statement joins that of the Bolivian Foreign Ministry, which issued a statement regretting “the loss of human life,” but highlighting “the work of the Colombian authorities in their recovery and rescue tasks.”
With EFE and AP
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