He explained that it was not just a disaster because of the accumulation of water on the top of the mountain, which later, in the night, fell on the Naranjal path.
There are also points of geographic instability that affect several municipalities in Cundinamarca and even Meta, the municipality of Calvario, Fosca, Gutiérrez, Quetame, Puerto Quetame and El Calvario in Meta, he said.
“Today there are elements of emergencies, catastrophes and high risk due to the mass movements that take place in this mountain range, which is because this mountain range is one of the youngest in the Latin American orographic system,” he commented.
He added that this mountain system is not yet consolidated, it is still moving and unfortunately this causes such events to recur and loss of life.
He stressed that they had taken the first routine emergency relief measures such as rent, groceries, towels, blankets, etc., but “more profound measures are now needed to prevent the events from repeating themselves,” he stressed.
One of the measures that is in the hands of the environmental authorities is to monitor the area to achieve stability, possibly through far more extensive reforestation measures than the existing ones.
The second possibility is a more general resettlement of the population from some urban centres, others from the rural routes along the gorge, tasks that the national authority must also take on, as there may be interdepartmental solutions.
He explained that all relocations must respect the family’s productive base and, in the case of farmers, crops must be bought up to avoid bankruptcy due to the highway closure.
There will be a helicopter bridge, also to bring food to one of the region’s most important industries, aviculture, which are running out of food and could die quickly as a result, he said.
He said the highway affected by the avalanche could be reactivated via the military bridges that the engineer battalion is rapidly building.
The National Institute of Roads will restore tertiary and secondary routes that have been damaged by this phenomenon and have cut off several regions, he added.
He offered his condolences to the families who lost a loved one in last Monday’s disaster.
What needs to be analyzed now is how the territory around the water will be ordered and how spaces will be freed up for water, which is the essential policy of adaptation to what they call the climate crisis, he concluded.
npg/otf