At noon this Monday, the regional authorities of Valparaíso went to the area of Cochoa, in Reñaca, to carry out an on-site inspection of the damage and preventive measures in the face of the sinkhole that on the night of Saturday, June 8, caused the evacuation of about 80 residents of two towers of the Euromarina II building, in Viña del Mar.
This weekend’s rainfall caused a trench thirty meters deep in the dune field, in the vicinity of the aforementioned real estate project, located just a few blocks from the Kandinsky building, which last August had already been affected by a landslide. land that determined the departure of nearly 87 residents and a mea culpa on the part of the Ministry of Public Works.
Strictly speaking, it was a team from the Housing and Urban Planning Service (Serviu) of the Fifth Region, the Presidential Delegation and Carabineros, who approached the area to evaluate mitigation measures for the meteorological event that is approaching this Thursday and that could bring about new landslide or collapse in some other collector.
From the community of residents of the Euromarina II building it was stated that the presence of the authorities took a while to arrive during this day, despite having been present on the day of the incident and on Sunday. “We believe that with the interviews we have given in the media, the authorities were interested in our request for mitigation measures, because at this moment the rain collectors are cut off; “If there was rain today we would have a new sinkhole,” he told this media. Francisco Torrentspokesperson for the Euromarina II Building community.
And for them, as well as for the building’s administration, the problem is clear: the rainwater collector would be the main explanation for the movement of earth and mud that affected the towers in Viña del Mar as a consequence of a lack of maintenance on the part of the building. of the Regional Service. What’s more, according to comments from the community, this should have been carried out more than a year and a half ago. But it was not like that.
“That is why We are evaluating legal actions together with the administration of the Eurovista building -which is below us- and the Playa Cochoa building, against those who are responsible. The lawyers will tell us which is the best option, because we have support from many ex officio requests and responses, even from the Presidential Delegation, where they say that Serviu is responsible. This is the resource that we will clear this week,” said Torrent.
Why are two other buildings added?: “They are located below us and due to the sinkhole the earth fell on top of them. The containment panels that they had due to the rains were left on the ground,” added the spokesperson.
From the Serviu, meanwhile, have assumed responsibility for the impact of the collectorwhich according to the regional director, Rodrigo Uribewould have collapsed due to a minor break due to maintenance.
While Senapred requested a report from Sernageomin regarding possible landslides after the new sinkhole, with the aim of “to be able to detect if there are imminent risks that other situations could occur.”
Currently, in the five-tower building that houses 306 apartments, only two of them have had a voluntary evacuation order by the Presidential Delegation of Valparaíso, since permanent evacuation, according to the authorities, is a decision that will be evaluated once once the risk history has been collected by the National Geology and Mining Service (Sernageomin), which would be communicated during this week by the technical tables composed of the Directorate of Hydraulic Works, MOP, Serviu, Regional Presidential Delegation, Esval, Sernageomin, Carabineros, Municipality of Viña del Mar, Senapred and Superintendency of Health Services (SIIS).
