Huaicos, floods, destroyed houses, families living on the streets, missing persons and deaths. This and many others generated the passage of Cyclone Yaku in Peru. There are more than 12,800 victims throughout the national territory, at least 50 people who lost their lives and hundreds injured. In addition, thousands of businesses have been affected, generating irreparable economic losses, especially in the north of the country.

For Jorge Capunayspecialist in natural disasters from the University César Vallejo (UCV), the negative consequences that Yaku has left on Peruvian territory are due to the lack of research on these phenomena and, therefore, the lack of preparation of the population to prevent its repercussions .

“The lack of studies, research and identification of this phenomenon with anticipation is what we see now. The cyclone was only identified in February. In the country, we have gaps in the weather surveysthere is no exchange of information at the international level and this means that these phenomena are not well studied”, he explained to this media.

“Before, we had not foreseen a similar phenomenon. This makes assessment and reaction to it more complex. This is a subject that we have not mapped; however, we need to do a research paper called Risk assessment. We have to reconsider a lot of things, assess the ravines, active and inactive. But if we don’t have the enough studiesHow can we prepare ourselves?” he said.

Verónica Ramírez and her mother with the belongings they managed to save when the Chillon River overflowed.  (GlobeLiveMedia/Paula Elizalde)
Verónica Ramírez and her mother with the belongings they managed to save when the Chillon River overflowed. (GlobeLiveMedia/Paula Elizalde)

Capuñay also spoke about the levels of prevention in Peruvian society and clarified that it is almost zero among citizens. As noted, in 1972 a geohazard assessment and specified in which areas were located disaster risk. However, despite this information, the authorities allowed the use of these spaces.

“I am from Chimbote and I know that there are lands that should not be built on because of the risk they run. Now there are areas that are flooded, because they are not suitable to build houses. In addition to the floors, there are diseases, mosquitoes. Children suffer from it. There’s no good either sanitary climatebut there are people living there,” he explained.

According to the specialist, it is necessary for the authorities to take into account the consequences generated by previous natural disasters in order to identify the risks incurred by their population. “It seems that we have forgotten the last huaicos that the country has known. We don’t have a culture of prevention. It also seems that we have put aside how Pisco was after the earthquake, how Ica was,” he pointed out.

“This Yaku phenomenon has been little studied, it’s true. It’s part of climate change we live in and affects tropical oceans with higher temperatures, and this is closely related to the issue of natural disasters. So, we can base ourselves on that to know what will be more recurrent. For example, initially we have the El Niño phenomenon, La Niña, and now we have the huge Yaku. We can have a preventative plan for these situations,” he added.

Capuñay also explained that although actions can be initiated after these events, it is necessary for the authorities and the population to take long-term preventive measures and not just for a short period.

For the expert, one of the main reasons why there is no prepared prevention plan is due to the mismanagement of municipalities and other authorities. For the natural disaster specialist, the list of professionals is often not correct, and civil servants are not chosen with sufficient experience to deal with social problems.

Miners in the children's village affected by mudslides.
Miners in the children’s village affected by mudslides.

“Sometimes the previous management has bad practices and leaves you without progress. Given this, the new person who comes in has to learn and work out a certain situation from scratch. In terms of risk management, there are not always specialized personnel. And what happens when a management ends? All the staff leave and others come in who have to relearn,” he said.

He also explained that the authorities do not always provide training on preventive topicsso there is no sufficiently trained staff. Capuñay said the constant change in administrative staff can have a negative impact because it can eliminate professionals who have the right profile to contribute to these problems.

“There are cases where officials don’t care to remove specialized personnel, if they are really trained or prepared. Sometimes they take an entire area for their people to enter and are not aware of the importance of perseverance in the projects. Therefore, the change must also come from the political side”, he underlined.

Finally, Jorge Capunay declared that the achievement of construction is one of the important factors in the culture of prevention, because it must be guided by professionals such as engineers, geologists, architects and others to ensure construction safety. However, many of them do not always have subject matter experts and are not even completed.

“We have to work with training programs because, otherwise, we carry out work that does not correspond to the reality of these places. What the authorities or politicians should do is make sure that these works will be properly built and completed. Every municipality, no matter how small, must have a professional in charge of this planning and the evaluation of these sites,” he said.

For this, he argued that it is necessary for citizens to closely follow the processes that each authority carries out for the improvement of neighborhoods, since he considers that a good surveillance it will inspire officials to come up with better projects and works for the benefit of the people.

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