The government has completed only around half of its planned prevention measures and works
BOGOTA (AlertNet) - Colombia is still unprepared for flooding, four months after the South American country suffered its worst deluges in decades, charity Refugees International and local press have said.
The government has completed only around half of its planned prevention measures and works since the last floods killed 464 people, destroyed 16,000 homes and disrupted the lives of 3.1 million, according to official figures.
"Colombia is not prepared,” said Alice Thomas, head of the climate displacement programme at the non-governmental organisation, Refugees International.
“The main problem is that local disaster management committees still lack capacity and funding or they don't even exist. There’s a very low capacity at the local level to respond to disasters.”
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos recently urged local officials to finish embankments and dikes, repair bridges and roads, implement early warning systems and identify those communities most at risk from potential floods.
While a repeat of last year's deluge is unlikely, local forecasters point to another round of heavy rains set to batter the Andean nation from now until December, which they say could trigger new flooding and landslides.
“Prevention mechanisms must be updated,” said Ricardo Lozano, head of Colombia’s meteorological agency, IDEAM, who has warned the country faces at least 30 percent more rainfall in the coming months than usual.
Local authorities are struggling to implement prevention measures, particularly in those areas still reeling from last year’s floods – which started last December, prompting the Colombian government to declare a state of emergency – and lasted until April this year.
In the hardest-hit areas across Colombia’s northern provinces and along the Caribbean coast, river levels remain high and floodwaters have still not receded, while thousands of flood victims remain living in makeshift shelters.
Despite setting aside around $500 million to deal with the floods emergency, the government-led humanitarian effort has been criticised by the local press and aid agencies, including Oxfam and Refugees International, for not reaching affected communities quickly enough and for providing poor quality shelters.
“Only a month ago we were still getting reports from rural and remote communities that still had not received any humanitarian assistance" Thomas told AlertNet by phone.
Last year’s floods also exposed the lack of coordination among the array of government agencies and ministries involved in the emergency response, and the lack of funds made available for local authorities in preparing for and responding to natural disasters.
“The government didn't have a lot of control about what was happening at the local level,” said Thomas of Refugees International, who visited Colombia in April to report on the aftermath of the floods. “The main bottleneck was the holding up of funds at the local level.”
FEW LESSONS LEARNT
The government still needs to learn urgent lessons about how to deal with flooding, according to the local press and aid agencies.
“The government has still not figured how to deliver aid quickly,” said Thomas, who added that Colombia is highly vulnerable to extreme weather and natural disasters.
Many local officials still need to receive basic training about how to prepare for disasters, including how to set up evacuation routes and teach communities about the importance of drinking water and sanitation in preventing the spread of disease, she added.
Colombia’s comptroller general, Sandra Morelli, said on Monday humanitarian aid and housing and rent subsidies meant for flood victims is being siphoned off by some government officials hoping to garner political support ahead of Colombia’s local elections in October. Several local officials have been sacked as a result.
"We have seen that in several departments and municipalities, resources were and continue to be diverted and that in many cases these resources are allocated to benefit political campaigns of candidates running in October's local elections,” Morelli told local Caracol radio.
(Editing by Rebekah Curtis)
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