Global Courant 2023-04-27 11:06:08
Early rains were combined with the instability detected on a hillside in the village of Las Minas, Casillas, Santa Rosa, which ended up collapsing last Monday with the tragic result of a deceased child, two injured women, nine houses buried and another 10 declared uninhabitable due to to its proximity. This climatic tragedy, like so many others that the country has suffered, has names and surnames, truncated histories, affected communities, and constitutes a sad reminder of the need to investigate and prevent these outcomes, which in turn cause other precariousness.
A new rainy season is coming. As a logical action in the face of the recent landslide, and also in the face of the thousands of points at risk identified since last year, a systematic evaluation should be undertaken and the necessary measures taken, including the implementation of early warning systems combined with the organization of the nearby residents. This methodology is usually well developed in towns near volcanoes.
On the other hand, the institutional and technological reengineering of the Institute of Seismology, Volcanology, Meteorology and Hydrology (Insivumeh) is urgently needed. It has river monitoring stations, especially on the South Coast, but such facilities are insufficient to cover the basins, at least those with the highest flows and that generate devastating impacts on agriculture, livestock, the road network, and communities. For this, it is urgent that the entity better plan its procurement mechanisms, since in the last two years direct purchases have predominated, below Q90 thousand, which makes it questionable if it is due to disorganization, incapacity or fraud.
Several of the purchases, such as office equipment, batteries, telecommunications and connectivity, could well be tendered in blocks to obtain better prices in the medium term. In a country identified for two decades as one of the most exposed to damage from climate change, there should already be a State policy for constant innovation in risk monitoring. Greater precision, better anticipation, and better mitigation policies could be achieved.
It is curious, striking and symptomatic that despite dealing with an issue that implies a risk to human lives and with enormous annual costs for development, not a single presidential candidate refers to the issue of risk reduction, the environment and climate change. Much less aspirants to councils or mayors. However, events such as that of Casillas demand action.
The Insivumeh has been one of those institutions used to create patronage places that displace or serve as ballast for specialized personnel. A sample of said deterioration and interference was the fraudulent award of a Q21 million radar for meteorological monitoring that was carried out without bidding under the figure of the state of Calamity due to pandemic, despite the fact that it had no relationship. It was granted to a company that did not have the experience to comply with said request, but was linked to deputy Jorge García Silva, elected by the Prosperidad Ciudadana party. Indications collected show that the congressman had an impact to achieve the fix. The violation of García Silva has not been resolved in the Supreme Court of Justice since March 2022. As if that were not enough, he was registered as a candidate for another term, as a defector, a total discredit for the Popular party that postulates him and for the TSE, that endorsed it despite its lack of suitability.
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