BOGOTA: There are no more people officially missing after mudslides in Colombia killed at least 254, the country’s president said.
Torrential rains on Friday night caused three rivers surrounding the southern city of Mocoa to overflow — sending a torrent of mud and debris surging through the city.
President Juan Manuel Santos said 170 victims had been identified. He said 43 children were among the dead and 22 more had been hospitalized. A further 203 people were injured, many severely.
“To all, we send our prayers. We send our condolences to their families, condolences from the entire country,” Santos said in an address earlier.
Concerned by the increasingly heavy rainstorms Friday, Simon Uribe and his family shifted from their first-floor riverside apartment to the level above. The river broke its banks 50 meters up the street, splitting and leaving their home effectively surrounded by two strong currents. The electricity cut out.
“At some point, most of the city was (covered) with water. No power but you can see rivers in every street,” Uribe told the media.
“I watched people — some girls coming down the river — some bodies coming by the water. It was terrible. It was pretty shocking,” he said. Uribe and his family — including his 10-month-old son — escaped to higher ground. The next morning, Uribe found several feet of muddy water where his home had been. “There was basically no house left,” Uribe said. “It was shocking.”
More than 1,000 soldiers and national police officers are involved in the rescue effort, and they are facing enormous challenges. “The difficulties we are facing are that it is still raining in the region and the (mudslide) turned up a considerable amount of land. There are mobility issues on almost 80% of the roads, and where the road ends, it is three hours to the place where the (mudslide) took place,” a police spokesman told reporters.
Photos released by Colombia’s military showed rescuers carrying old women and children over downed, mud-caked trees and homes.
Santos said Sunday that 10 mobile water tanks were in place and 16 more were on the way to Mocoa, as well as water purification systems. He added that a local hospital was back in operation and medical supplies had been flown in. He pledged to rehouse those displaced.
“To those who lost their homes, we will build new ones in a safer place. In the meantime, we will give them a monthly rent stipend of 87 dollars. And I have asked the housing minister to begin this initiative today,” the President said.
Save the Children said at least 70 children had been separated from their parents. The organization said it would be working to support children and families in the area and was helping to coordinate hygiene kits and temporary friendly spaces for affected children to attend.
“This is obviously a highly shocking and chaotic situation for the population in the most vulnerable situation, especially pregnant women, children and adolescents,” executive director Maria Paula Martinez said in a statement calling for support.
Heavy rains, high levels of deforestation, informal housing and dense human populations are some factors that can leave communities vulnerable to landslides, scientists say.
“The floodwaters got stuck up in the mountain and when it came down many people didn’t have time to react and they were washed away,” a survivor told.
Gabriel Umaña, a spokesman for the Colombian Red Cross, told the media that 300 families had been displaced and more than two dozen homes had been flattened.
