This Sunday, the person in charge of the reconstruction of the areas affected by the forest fires, Paulina Saball, gave an account of the first definitions and priorities that the process that she will lead will have, on the ground, starting next week. In this regard, the former Minister of Housing assured that President Gabriel Boric asked her to be “as close as possible” to people, so that it responds to the characteristics of each place, but also so that work is equitable between places, according to detailed in an interview with Mega.
Saball stated that the aim is to prevent aid from concentrating in one place, because it is better known or has greater exposure, therefore, what is sought by appointing a person to coordinate in each sector is “trying to unite, but also to generate the greatest number of opportunities and resources, and distribute them as equitably as possible”.
In addition, the person in charge of the reconstruction assured that another of the attributes that the process that she will lead must have is related to the “integral”. In this regard, Saball stated that “this means that we can simultaneously meet housing needs with the particularities of the rural sector, but also recover the issue of production chains, jobs, schools that have been burned, roads that have been cut off. And also, you have to think about the future, maybe there are issues that we have not done well today and that in future accident prevention we have to do better”.
And he continued: “When we talk about comprehensive, it is that reconstruction is not only infrastructure. If one thinks, fires are traumatic experiences for people, not only the house is lost, life, pets, in addition, people have lived an experience of having to leave (…) I remember for the fire in Valparaíso where there were testimonies from people who said they had lost all their photos”.
In this sense, he stated that “the reconstruction processes are not only putting houses, cement, opening roads and repairing, there is a lot of that”, but also regarding the above. In this regard, he said that “you have to work with the communities.” Finally, Saball revealed that he will hold meetings with people who have already been in the affected area and who have collected information, so he will deploy to start the field work “this week.” “I’m going to be on this all week, working, making contact with the regional governors and the mayors,” he said.
