Death toll from Colombian mudslides rises to 270
THE Colombian government on Monday declared a state of economic emergency in the town of Mocoa in southern Colombia, after mudslides left more than 270 people dead, including 43 children.
“We have the toll of the people who have unfortunately died,” said President Juan Manuel Santos, as he revisited the scene of Friday’s disaster.
“The latest is 273 people died and 262 are injured,” he said. Earlier, he said that at least 43 children were among the dead.
Santos was to spend the night at a nearby military base yesterday and would continue coordinating the emergency response. The president said reconstruction would begin, dismissing risks of more mudslides, but he warned the country faces rainy weather until June.
Santos has flown into the disaster zone for three straight days to oversee the relief effort. He declared an economic emergency on Monday to free up relief funds, amplifying the public health and safety emergency he had already declared.
The mudslides occurred on Friday after heavy rains caused three rivers to overflow, spewing earth, rocks and tree debris over the area.
Most of the hardest-hit neighbourhoods are poor and populated with people uprooted during Colombia’s five-decadelong civil war.
Mocoa was home to 70,000 people, according to Sorrel Aroca, the governor of Putumayo department. The Red Cross estimated about 45,000 people in Mocoa were affected by the mudslides.
Hopes of finding survivors were fading on Monday as some 200 people remained missing.
Rescuers clawed through mud and timber as relatives desperately sought loved ones.
Survivors told of scrambling onto roofs or hanging onto trees as a sea of mud, boulders and debris engulfed Mocoa. Some watched as their children and relatives were swept away.
Debris was everywhere in the remote Amazon town: buried cars, uprooted trees, children’s toys and odd shoes sticking up out of the mud.
Survivors gathered at the local hospital and at the cemetery to search for family members and friends. Residents began burying their loved ones as the identified bodies were returned. A mass funeral was held at a local cemetery, where workers toiled to dig enough holes for the piles of coffins.
Hundreds of rescuers were working at the scene of the disaster, using mechanical diggers in the search.
Santos said the mudslide destroyed a local aqueduct and knocked out power to much of the surrounding area.
He said four emergency water treatment plants would be set up to avoid epidemics of diseases such as cholera.
Colombia’s worst disaster was a volcanic eruption in 1985 that triggered a landslide and destroyed the city of Armero, killing 25,000 people.