2023-07-19 22:43:03
A terrible landslide occurred Monday evening in Quetame, about sixty kilometers south of the capital, Bogota. The latest official report, given Tuesday evening, reports 15 victims and 13 people still missing.
???? The search for the missing continues after the landslide in Quetame, department of Cundinamarca, in Colombia. So far, the authorities have confirmed the death of 15 people and the destruction of 22 homes.
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— Voice of America (@VozdeAmerica) July 19, 2023
The search for survivors is made difficult Wednesday by the torrential rains which fall on the region, announced the authorities. In the morning, “we had to temporarily suspend (the search) because of the rain, it’s risky for the staff”, explained to AFP Captain Alvaro Farfan, fire chief of the department of Cundinamarca, where s the drama happened.
A deadly rainy season
Monday, shortly before midnight, about twenty houses were swept away by an avalanche of mud and rocks caused by heavy rains. Thirteen people are still missing. The avalanche also swept away a bridge on the road that connects Bogota to Villavicencio, the largest city in the southeast of the country, which has around 500,000 inhabitants.
The road axis, one of the main ones in the country, will be closed at least until the end of next week, according to the office of the governor of the state of Cundinamarca. Due to the configuration of the place, landslides are frequent on this road.
“The recurrence of these deadly events deserves a discussion (….) on substantive measures to stabilize the region,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Twitter, announcing the opening of additional air links between Bogota and Villavicencio “to make in the face of an emergency”. The rainy season there started in June and usually lasts until November. Last year, it caused some 300 deaths and 700,000 people were affected.
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