Ruthlessly battered by a seemingly unrelenting and unforgiving wet season that spanned the better part of 10 months from 2010 into 2011, Colombia is set to suffer once again.
More than 300 people lost their lives from natural disasters stemming from 2010/2011’s rainy season that was a combination of natural phenomena such as El Niño and La Niña, and more than two million remain affected or displaced by the flooding. There are obvious and warranted fears that this figure will increase since so little of Colombia has had sufficient time to recover.
In a press conference given on September 4, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos declared: "What is coming is not another Niña but a regular rainy season with the aggravating factor of it being stronger than normal."
Is Colombia Prepared for Further Rains?
Even while all sectors of the Colombian government are on “alert” according to President Santos it remains to be seen how any preventative measures can really be put in place. A reported 3000 works have been executed about the country, but, will this be enough to stave off another chapter to the worst national disaster in this nation’s history?
The real worry is that rivers continue with startlingly high water levels and that agricultural lands have not been given the chance to dry out that will just serve to exacerbate problems when the rains begin.
Washed away with Local Elections
There are major concerns that the onset of local elections in October throughout the country will lead to electoral hopefuls to dilute the actual seriousness of the situation and use it to their own benefit. Both international and national aid in the form of food and resources that were distributed during the last rainy season earlier in 2011 was reportedly found for sale in the black market in various regions and being used as political leverage in order to win votes in more outlying provinces.
Damage to Infrastructure
As a developing nation Colombia stands to suffer more at the hands of natural disasters given its extreme geography that includes mountain ranges, two coastlines and this in turn contributes to poor communications and infrastructure. It is this final point that has both politicians and civilians most concerned.
The international charity Oxfam claimed that 28 of Colombia’s 32 departments were found to be under water during the worst part of the last floods and that more than 3000 homes were destroyed in addition to the loss of key agricultural land and destruction of major highways.
At one point during the last floods even the capital city of Bogota was left incommunicado due to rivers bursting their banks and flooding the highways that provide access to the city. Even the country’s main airport of El Dorado came under threat as fears that the rising waters would lead to the runways becoming inundated.
And Bogota was far from being the only city affected, Medellin, located deep in the Aburra Valley suffered landslides and Bucaramanga was completely cut off when landslides made access and exit from the city impossible.
Unfortunately for President Santos, his tenure as premier looks set to be defined by natural disasters rather than far more worthy causes he has backed as most of his government’s efforts have gone towards restoring communication between vital areas and distributing humanitarian aid.
Richard McColl - I am a freelance writer from deepest darkest London but for the past 10 years or so I have been maintaining my extended "writing break" in ...
