Fifteen mattresses for a thousand affected: mayors from the 9 points of the country where aid is just arriving after the earthquake speak out

Until late Friday afternoon, August 14, in Bajo Baudó, a municipality in deep Chocó with about 34,000 inhabitants, including its rural area, no kind of aid had arrived after the earthquake that struck Colombia earlier in the week.

Although that was the first department the president Abelardo De la Espriella arrived at on the same day of the earthquake and where even his vice president, José Manuel Restrepo, stayed overnight, after bringing tons of supplies and materials, several factors have delayed the arrival of relief to a handful of towns in that area.

According to their mayors, whom EL TIEMPO contacted, roads and bridges that remain collapsed, crushed communication antennas, and active presence of criminal groups have made it difficult for -contrary to what happened in the rest of the country- aid to land immediately.

The situation there is so complex that it will be one of the regions where the central government deploys the cooperation mechanism with NASA, Airbus, and Agustín Codazzi, to access satellite images and ultra-detailed photographs to strengthen the assessment of the damage caused by the earthquake.

“We have more than 1,363 affected families, indigenous communities and reserves that were left without their homes, such as those in the southern area of Villanueva and the northern area of Guirinchao. There are also problems with electrical networks and aqueducts”, Elena Castro, secretary of government of Bajo Baudó, told EL TIEMPO.

She added that the only way to reach the municipality is by sea from Buenaventura (also semi-destroyed) or by the Baudó river itself, which has prevented them from conducting a definitive census of the affected population: “One day after the earthquake, a gale occurred that left one person dead and more structures affected”.

And although the Baudó river artery – about 150 kilometers long that flows into the Pacific Ocean – would be the best highway, fear also sails through those corridors where the narcoterrorists of the ELN and the ‘Gulf Clan’ dispute criminal rents and drug routes.

According to the mayor of Medio Baudó, Ángel Zúñiga, the number of displaced people in his municipality exceeds 600 people.

“Help has not arrived here yet. We are doing everything from the local administration to see how we attend to the population. There are no shelters. The affected are staying in community houses,” the local mayor explained by phone through an intermittent and sometimes weak signal.

Zúñiga added that on Thursday afternoon, the National Government arrived in Alto Baudó and called a meeting with the three Baudó municipalities, attended by Vice President Restrepo, Interior Minister Rodrigo Lara, and Governor Nubia Córdoba, who left with a list of urgent needs and tasks.

“They told us they will provide food, construction materials, and machinery. But there is still no exact date to receive these supplies”, Mayor Zúñiga assured.

According to official figures, there are 238 affected homes and 5 destroyed.

The levels of destruction in the area are partly due to the proximity to the so-called zero zone or epicenter of the earthquake. But also to the historical neglect of that department.

Indeed, in the same subregion of Chocó is San José del Palmar, where the powerful quake occurred.

Jhon Jairo Gutiérrez, mayor of Litoral del San Juan, also confirmed that they are waiting for the support they have seen land in the Coffee Axis.

“We are looking for ways to get enough aid because we are really very affected. People cannot go to their plots due to the worry that it might shake again. We need food, materials so people can recover their homes, the situation cannot wait”, the mayor said.

In that municipality, there are 673 damaged homes, 231 destroyed, 1,415 displaced families, 3 injured, 22 affected educational institutions, 6 affected bridges, and one health post.

Traveling by boat and car, 65 kilometers away, is Unión Panamericana.

Visibly affected, its mayor, Geyson Copete, assured EL TIEMPO that this is the hardest-hit area, despite being close to Quibdó and Istmina.

“There are 426 damaged homes and 69 collapsed. The Governor’s office has helped us with 26 kits, and only yesterday a truck of donations arrived. It is a mining town, but very poor, and we need more supplies like mattresses, sheets, and food for the community.”

He also assured that the corregimiento of La Ye was completely destroyed. And the entrance bridge is down.

A similar case is experienced in Bagadó. Its mayor, Marinela Palomeque, said they have only received 15 mattresses from the Governor’s office and there are 1,538 affected: “We do not know the route to channel the aid”.

And she added: “The shipments are staying in the center of the municipality, in Quibdó, but we also need them”.

Another severely affected place is the corregimiento of Tanguí, in the municipality of Medio Atrato. Ninety percent of the homes were affected and it has not yet been possible to collect all the information for the census of the population requiring aid after the earthquake.

In the municipal seat, it is known, for example, that 120 families are affected, 5 houses destroyed, and 11 uninhabitable. The local mayor, Diomedes Cuesta, assured this newspaper that, so far, they have only received aid from an influencer.

But in Valle there are also similar cases. The mayor Julián Muriel, of Bolívar, is also raising his hand: “People are sleeping outdoors. It is a very rural municipality and it has not been possible to reach the high areas. We have not been able to coordinate with the Government, but yes with the governor’s office. We have civil society management that has sent food”.

And an hour from Bolívar, in San Pedro (Valle), the situation is also complex. “We have several affected houses that are threatening to collapse. About 15 houses have already fallen. There are two churches whose towers are about to fall and that would represent risks to other structures”, said Diego Mendoza, its mayor.

And he added: “San Pedro is a poultry municipality and we lost 20,000 birds”.

The list of municipalities waiting for aid is completed by Versalles and Vijes.

In the first, 200 houses fell, and we have commissions clearing debris, but there is only one nurse at the health post, there are no doctors to attend us and there are elderly people with health problems.

And in Vijes, its mayor, Óscar Fernando Muñoz, told EL TIEMPO that there are 220 affected houses, of which 25 are total losses.

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“The town hall building has serious problems. We are working from an adjacent building and the municipal parish is about to fall. The municipality of Soacha sponsored us and they are collecting aid. We also received 2 trucks from the governor’s office”, Mayor Muñoz assured.

With every passing minute, the situation in this handful of towns worsens. The central government already knows what is happening and now the challenge is to overcome the obstacles to also reach and help this group of Colombians.

INVESTIGATIVE UNIT  

u.investigativa@eltiempo.com

@UinvestigativaET

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