In a press conference held this Tuesday, the director of the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD), Javier Pava, announced that one of the actions that the Government will carry out will be the purchase, or even the expropriation of private properties to relocate the people affected by the winter season.
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According to Pava, to make these purchases the provisions of the national disaster risk management policy will be used, which It is found in Law 1523 of 2012, specifically in articles 73, 74 and 75 that establish the acquisition, negotiation and expropriation by administrative means of private properties in cases of natural emergencies.
According to the manager, these items have not been used so far in Colombia, but taking into account the current situation that has generated the second rainy season, is necessary.
“The president’s call is that at this time temporary accommodation and the transfer of families that need to be evacuated is not to places in community halls or schools, but rather to private properties or properties that reach an established and regulated process in the Law 1523 of 2012, articles 73, 74 and 75, which has to do with the acquisition of real estate for the temporary relocation of evacuated families and even with the permanent relocation of homes“Pava pointed out.
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Since January, and until November 8 of this year, the rains left 765 municipalities affected, 204 dead, 281 injured and 37 missing people. The UNGRD reports that 5,840 homes have been destroyed and 147,562 families have been affected.
According to the manager, President Gustavo Petro asked the other entities to support the UNGRD so that it is in charge of making said purchases of private properties in which the temporary or permanent relocations of the victims would be made.
“The president’s instruction is that the entities of the system support the National Unit for Risk Management so that this measure can be implemented in such a way that, as established in the national disaster risk management policy, families are protected in properties or buildings that are adjacent to the area and we immediately guarantee safe places where the families can be transferred and even that their relocation is definitively defined there“said the manager.
To carry out the prioritization, a model will be used in which the municipalities establish what their requirements are through the mayor, and then these requirements are taken to the departmental level and it is the governors who are in charge of communicating the priorities from each municipality to the UNGRD.
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“It has been established that the level of coordination for the response to emergencies is done through the Municipal Councils of Risk Management at the head of the municipal mayor, that he consolidates the priorities of the municipal level, transfers them to the departmental level who consolidates and prioritizes the needs of the department and these, in turn, are transferred to the national level so that the resources and aid that are required are immediately activated. This leads to the fact that we are going to have daily PMU operations,” Pava highlighted.
TIME