2024-10-01 01:38:22
Although air support capabilities are limited, work is being done jointly between the National Government and departmental and local authorities to face this emergency situation that the country is going through, especially in the center and south of the national territory. The National Unit for Risk and Disaster Management calls for optimizing support capabilities and prioritizing the protection of human lives.
The municipalities most affected in the region by the inclement flames are: Palermo, Aipe and Campoalegre.
In this regard and after the emergencies that ‘hit’ the department of Huila, mainly the municipalities of the northern zone, have been resolved, work must be done on the recovery of the flora.
Leaders to prevent conflagrations
It must be recognized that the forest fires put the response capacity of the emergency agencies in ‘check’, given the large number that occurred, apparently the product of agricultural burning, and their ferocity. The National Government invites to strengthen the entities destined to fight the flames.
In this regard and given the increase in ignitions so far this year, Iris Marín Ortiz, Ombudsman, made an urgent call to mayors and governors to strengthen territorial systems for the effective prevention of fires. forests in their jurisdictions, to counteract them, contain damage to the environment and protect the population of the four affected areas of the country.
The official expressed this same concern to the director of the National Risk Management Unit, Carlos Carrillo, who expressed his willingness to take the pertinent actions within the framework of his powers. At this same meeting, the current drought situation facing the Amazon region and the concern over the risk of serious harm to human rights and nature were discussed.
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High temperatures
And due to the serious report of fires in the Andean and Orinoquía region, and the consolidated figure of 143 fires so far in 2024, Iris Marín, requested to increase preventive actions: “to prevent forest fires in areas such as those in has presented, it is important to review the conditions of wind speed and direction, avoid unsupervised burning and not throw away combustible material or material that creates a magnifying glass effect.”
As part of the impacts of the El Niño phenomenon and Ideam bulletins, the country presents high temperatures (equal to or greater than 37 degrees Celsius), mainly in the Caribbean, Andean and Orinoco regions. Consequently, alerts are activated against possible fires of the vegetation cover in some sectors of these regions.
The most affected regions
Under this scenario, conflagrations have been occurring in several municipalities in the departments of Huila, Tolima and Nariño for three weeks. The lawyer also calls on the community, remembering that risk management is a social process that falls on all inhabitants of the Colombian territory to heed the alert calls, the actions implemented by government agencies and the safety measures. disaster response within the framework of prevention.
“We will continue to be attentive with our officials in the territory, accompanying the communities and encouraging local and regional authorities so that the provocation of this type of conflagration is counteracted in a timely manner. National authorities must also use their resources to protect the environment and save lives in the face of this emergency,” the official stated.
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Call to the National Government
Likewise, on September 21 of this year, the Attorney General’s Office made a strong call to the National Disaster Risk Management Unit (UNGRD), Mininterior and the National Fire Department of Colombia (DNBC), so that, within the framework of their powers, and as members of the National System for Disaster Risk Management, they carry out the necessary steps to address emergencies due to forest fires in the country.
The control entity requested that the Government make available to the Fire Departments and other relief organizations the resources, equipment, machinery and other elements necessary to counteract the forest fires that are affecting a large part of the national territory.
He urged the UNGRD to guarantee economic resources to the members of the national system, and the opportunity for air support from the military and police forces, taking into account the existence of fires in which this assistance has not been provided, despite the favorable technical concepts of the National Fire Department of Colombia (DBNC).
Likewise, it required the Ministry of the Interior to comply with the commitments established by that portfolio in January 2024 with the delegates of the fire departments, which had the purpose of increasing response capabilities and, finally, requested the DNBC, immediately make available the emergency care equipment that the entity has and that were acquired under the figure of manifest urgency in validity 2024.
Likewise, it requested a report on the current status of execution of the sectors of the National Management Plan for the El Niño Phenomenon, the formulation and execution of the Specific Action Plan for the recovery of Decree 037 of 2024, the efforts carried out to the signing of agreements with the National Police to guarantee support in emergency response, among other requirements.
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To restore the flora
Regarding the recovery of the flora affected in these emergencies, Juan Carlos Ortiz, deputy director of Regulation and Environmental Quality of the Regional Autonomous Corporation of Alto Magdalena (CAM), said: “the entity has been fulfilling its functions, we are in The post-disaster stage, strategic levels of information and knowledge for restoration possibilities, are normally now known as active or passive, however they are the same.
“In this first moment, we worked with satellite images that are available on the platforms of the different entities, including Ideam, the Ministry of the Environment. We seek to know some basic data, and contrast it with what we had previously. That is to say, we can easily identify dry forest covers, we have already identified more than 32 species. There are the cucharo, pelá, among others,” added the expert.
With few resources
Carlos Ortiz is emphatic in stating that these strategies have costs, “our Corporation is not one of the most buoyant in the country. We are one of the best, but in budgetary matters, we are below other entities. For this reason, we turn to the National Government to provide us with the necessary help.”
Due to the above, they are going to hold meetings with entities to find out what is the efficient mechanism to overcome this problem.
“Towards the immediate future we are going to advance with the communities, some training, training and care tasks for that we need the Fire Department, Civil Defense and we have a beautiful example in Las Ceibas. And I want to call for control of the lots in the city, therefore we have to call their owners to see what use they are giving them,” concluded the operator.
In turn, Rodrigo Villalba, governor of Huila, expressed. “There is a specific attention program to address the damage, now it is up to us not only to inventory the damage, but also to provide solutions to recover those areas, and distribute the respective responsibilities.”
The leader of the Huilenses indicated that they will analyze what the CAM, the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Risk Management Unit contribute and what corresponds to the Department.