The Llojeta area in La Paz, with privileged landscapes, tragedy and prayers

“The Poniente Region”, that is how he named the Llojeta area the journalist, writer and novelist from La Paz, Jaime Sáenz. Like all areas and neighborhoods of the city of La Paz, Llojeta has its charm and mystery. It is a region of the city that, due to its location, shows how a large part of the Government headquarters extends.

It is also a sector where several private cemeteries were installed, which They extend over several hectares of green fields, that contrast with the dark tombstones that barely protrude from the ground.

And in the last five years, the residents of Llojeta have faced at least two tough moments: the “mega slide” of April 2019 and the recent dungeon on the night of Saturday, November 23. It is presumed that the avalanche descended strongly from the area of ​​the private cemetery of Los Andes, where excavations were carried out without authorization from the Mayor’s Office of La Paz.

In both situations, people lost their property. In both moments There are more than 100 homes affected and dozens of families affected and injured people who seek to overcome the shock, but live in fear of a new avalanche.

The tragedy faced by the residents of Llojeta is not only due to the loss of their material goods, but also due to the disappearance of a girl who is wanted by the firefighters, military and rescue teams of the Mayor’s Office.

Even the president of the State, Luis Arce, arrived at the disaster zone with supplies and He demanded that an investigation be carried out into what caused the dungeon.

The Llojeta area is part of the macrodistrict of Cotahúma, which is geographically located “below” the city of El Alto towards the southern area of ​​the city of La Paz. It is a strategic sector, where you access Satélite City in the city of El Altoto the traditional neighborhood of Sopocachi, and to all areas of the South of La Paz, from Obrajes to Mallasa.

In the sector too Several private cemeteries were installed, such as the Jardín cemetery, Los Andes, among others, that they took at least 10 hectares, which are between natural terraces and capricious gray ravines, which stand as the anteroom to the mythical Valley of the Moon.

One of the access routes to Llojeta is the winding Mario Mercado Avenue, that crosses the area from north to south and descends from the Ciudad Satélite area in El Alto and It connects with Los Sargentos Avenue and further down with Costanera Avenue, one of the main accesses to the neighborhoods of the South Zone of the city of La Paz.

On the night of Saturday, November 23, the neighbors, between 8:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., They reported on social networks that the Bajo Llojeta area was invaded by a large dungeon that carried fine mud and debris and flooded houses. The dungeon descended to Los Sargentos Avenue.

Due to the panic of those moments, which seemed eternal, the neighbors began to ask for help through social networks, such as Facebook, TikTok and WhatsApp groups where they sent photos, videos and audios that warned of the emergency situation, even They talked about trapped children.

Some time later, the Mayor’s Office of La Paz activated its emergency units and arrived at the scene with workers, mechanical shovels and other vehicles to remove all the mud and debris that flooded the streets and homes. Soldiers from military units also arrived at the scene to help with rescue work and cleaning up the avalanche.

All of this happened in the middle of the night and intense rain fell in the sector and made the work more complicated due to poor visibility.

Although the teams from the Mayor’s Office, Civil Defense and Armed Forces worked all night, the first lights of Sunday morning showed the magnitude of the disaster, with dozens of homes covered in mud almost up to the roofsome streets had disappeared and all you could see was mud everywhere and the desperation and helplessness of the neighbors who, for fear of suffering a new landslide, did not sleep all night and were looking for a way to rescue some household belongings.

Technicians from the Mayor’s Office of La Paz explained that hours before the avalanche, it rained in El Alto and that those waters reached the Jarañapampa River and later the Pasajahuira, a tributary that On Saturday night it overflowed and affected some 42 homes in Bajo Llojeta. The mud and stone material descended with great intensity to Costanera Avenue, where mud and drift material accumulated.

The Mayor’s Office cut off vehicle traffic up and down Costanera and Los Sargentos avenues.

“The problem has originated in the upper part of Llojeta, in the Los Andes private cemetery that carried out earthworks in an irresponsible and uncontrolled mannerand due to yesterday’s precipitation a landslide has been activated in the sector,” the municipal secretary of Resilience and Vulnerabilities Management, Juan Pablo Palma, explained to EL DEBER.

The municipal official said that the technicians of the Mayor’s Office already They did several studies and evaluations and identified that The cause is due to the excavations in that private cemetery, supposedly authorized by a neighboring municipality.

The municipal authorities directly hold the illegal earth movement authorized by the municipality of Achocalla, which affected two platforms in the sector, worsening the situation. Emergency teams continue working on the cleanup and build barriers with jute to prevent new overflows, while the collaboration of neighbors is requested and they are urged to avoid risk areas.

“The water has begun to drag mud that has descended for about three and a half kilometers, taking many things in its path. There are 42 homes that we have counted, but many of them were unoccupied. Yesterday all the people who were trapped were evacuated except for one girl, and today their search continues. There are 16 people evacuated, five have been transferred to a municipal shelter momentarily,” Palma reported.

“We have about 500 municipal officials deployed, a similar number from the Armed Forces. We are in close coordination with the Vice Ministry (of Civil Defense). Several search and rescue cycles are carried out with Firefighters and the Special Municipal Rescue Group,” Palma added.