Perú

Earthquake preparedness still lacking

Ramiro Escobar

24/03/2010

Opinión

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It took the devastating 8.8-magnitude earthquake that destroyed parts of neighboring Chile on Feb. 27, for Peru's government to scramble to form an earthquake preparedness plan, even though less than three years earlier, an 8.0-magnitude quake rocked Peru's south-central coast, killing more than 500 people.

Following the quake in Chile, President Alan García announced that the country would install a tsunami alert system, despite the fact that there was a tsunami alert following the August 2007 earthquake in Peru. He also unveiled a National Prevention Plan against Earthquakes, even those experts have been clamoring for one for years.

Poverty's weight

Pedro Ferradas, who heads the disaster prevention program at the international technical support and sustainable development organization ITDG-Soluciones Practicas, said consecutive governments have not done enough to strengthen state-run disaster response bodies.

The National Civil Defense Institute, which was founded in 1973, during the 1968-80 military government, “is a vertical authority, that works from the top down” and that it has “deficiencies.”

Some experts, such as José Sato, of the Center for Disaster Prevention and Studies, argues that Peru faces potentially disastrous natural phenomena constantly, such as floods, droughts and landslides, and that the government is overdue for instating better plans.

Close to three years after the Aug. 15, 2007 earthquake, which destroyed the southern port city of Pisco, and was followed by a slow and chaotic aid distribution, residents are still demanding aid from the government for reconstruction. García made big promises to Pisco, and a government-run commission he appointed to oversee the reconstruction effort crumbled amid claims of inefficiencies.

“Poverty is our greatest vulnerability,” said Sato, who believes disasters are not natural, but social. The lack of coordination between government institutions and response teams create a dangerous cocktail with the population's poor quality of life and the absence of the state to see imprudent living conditions.

Many people in Peru build their homes on the sandy ground of the country's coast — home to more than two-thirds of the population — or with weak materials, such as cheap adobe, or near riverbanks, threatened by floods or any movement of the land in this seismically active country. In some cases, construction permits are granted for construction in precarious areas.

Ferradas warns that current legislation impedes fluid communication between municipalities and civil defense. Every municipality must have a Civil Defense Committee, led by the mayor, and including police and other government officials, and in some cases, churches, but in many cases these committee members are not trained to handle potential disasters.

Useless deaths

In February, thousands of tourists were stranded in Aguas Calientes, the small town and gateway to the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, Peru's top tourist destination, when heavy rains flooded train tracks and hiking trails. Hundreds had to be airlifted out of the town.

An Argentine woman and a Peruvian guide were killed in a landslide.
In the same department, Cuzco, in the villages of Zurite and Taray, seven people were killed from the heavy rains and landslides, illustrating again just how ill-prepared Peru is for potential disasters.

Sato added that the government's major error is waiting until these disasters happen. He suggested that the population should become more involved and should receive education for preparedness, such as evacuation drills and other preventative measures.

But government inaction is not just three years old, since the Pisco earthquake. One of the worst natural disasters in world history took place in Peru's Andes 40 years ago, and still did not convince the government to instate strong prevention policies. In the Andean department of Ancash in May 1970, a massive earthquake struck, and the impact chipped off a piece of glacier from Peru's highest mountain, Huascaran, burying the entire village of Yungay, killing tens of thousands of people. Now, four decades later, it looks unlikely that the government could respond to a large-scale earthquake on the coastal desert capital, Lima. —Latinamerica Press.

https://www.alainet.org/en/active/36969