During this Friday, the mayor of Valparaíso, Jorge Sharp, led the Committee for Risk and Disaster Management (COGRID)where a preventive municipal emergency was declared, which allows procedures such as leasing of machinery and hiring of personnel to be streamlined, in addition to providing a quick response to emergencies that could be triggered as a result of the frontal system that will affect the region, starting early this Saturday. , where wind gusts of up to 70 km/hr are expected.
The community leader emphasized that: “We are worried about the state of the roads after this rain, that is why we are going to ask the Presidential Delegation for support, we are going to request additional machinery to be able to enable the roads once the frontal system ends. We are also very concerned about the situation of the schools that are not in good condition, with the last rain many schools were rained out, therefore, we are also asking the SLEP to take additional measures, so that school absenteeism does not occur.”
During the meeting in which the Directorate of Citizen Security, the Directorate of Community Development and the Directorate of Operations participated, the coordination of municipal teams was instructed to address risk situations such as landslides, mass removal or floods, in addition to the authorization of a shelter in the O’Higgins Stadium with municipal resources for people experiencing homelessness.
For its part, Carla Meyer, director of Community Development, stated that: “The DIDECO social team will be on 24-hour shifts to be able to attend to the conditions that may affect families as a result of inclement weather and, after the emergency, the attention that must be carried out for the delivery of materials. and other types of elements that the municipality delivers to people who have been affected in their homes.”
While, Ubaldo González, in charge of the Risk and Disaster Management department, stated that: “In this case, if there is a mass removal we have the availability of machinery, if there is some type of problem within the homes, the DIDECO social team, together with the emergency teams and all other departments, also have the ability to respond. That is why it is important to have and make it clear that this weekend is going to be quite complex in meteorological terms and that is why the recommendation will always be that people can stay at home.”
And finally, Mónica Riveros, director of the Health area of the Municipal Corporation of Valparaíso, indicated that: “Since the beginning of the preparation of the winter campaign, our infrastructure teams have already made available the resources and technical capabilities to take mitigation measures, especially roofing and the possibility of leaks so that our establishments remain operational. We also have the capacity to keep ourselves running in the event of power outages because we have also been concerned, as a city full of contingencies, of having electrical autonomy in the event of outages.”
Winter plan: the preventive measures that the Buenos Aires municipality has taken
Fernanda Faúndez, coordinator of the Technical Assistance department, details the Winter Plan has been executed so that the commune resists the rains during this season of the year.
“It began on March 20 and includes the cleaning of drains, sand traps in the upper part, cleaning of main channels and cleaning of intakes and chambers of rainwater evacuation systems. “In 2023, more than 400 tons of garbage and sediment were removed in the development of the winter plan.”Explain.
To date, more than 50 points have been intervened in different parts of the city’s plan and hills, removing more than 70 tons of sediment and garbage from drains and canals. As for the dams, the Yerbas Buenas dam, Betina dam and Capilla dam (under construction) were intervened, removing more than 137 tons of bulky items and garbage.
