Chilean President, gabriel boricannounced on Monday the Reconstruction Plan for the areas affected by the forest fires that hit several regions of the central-southern zone of Chile in February.
“We are entering the rebuilding phase, not only to recover what was lost, but to be able to establish and establish something better in all the affected areas”said the president from the Ninhue commune, in the Ñuble Region, one of those affected by the fire.
The plan, which has an investment of more than 229 billion pesos (almost 282 million dollars or 259 million euros at today’s exchange rate), includes 36 measures divided into five axes: habitability; psychosocial support; productive reactivation; enabling infrastructure; territory and sustainability, to “replace what was lost, improve and expand opportunities, and reduce the current inequality gaps,” the Presidency said in a statement.
In total, almost half of the resources (48.5%) will be allocated to habitability, regularization of properties, delivery of emergency and permanent housing and improvement of the neighborhood environment; another important percentage (28.8%) will be invested in protecting formal jobs and self-employment, recovering working capital, providing funds for forestry and agricultural activities and promoting economic activity, the document details.
Boric also announced a bonus of one million pesos (1,232 dollars or 1,130 euros at today’s exchange rate) for those families who are waiting for their emergency homes “to alleviate the monetary burden”, and which is added to the aid that the Government delivered at the beginning of the emergency.
“Many times it happens that the State has a first reaction and then when another emergency occurs, those sides go away, and the provisional remains as permanent (…) That cannot be, we have to give dignified answers to all families and try to take this as an opportunity to get on a better footing than we were before the catastrophe”, the president pointed out.
