How much has been invested in disaster prevention?

Last week, the national emergency operations center alerted eight regions due to landslides, and the National Center for Disaster Risk Assessment, Prevention and Reduction (envoy) indicates that there are 108 areas at risk in the southern sierra.

Alfredo Zambrano, Cenepred’s deputy director of information management, says the risk scenario has already been warned by local and regional authorities, but they are not investing enough in plans to prevention.

“The limiting factor for the implementation of preventive measures is the lack of continuity in risk management. Let’s remember that for every dollar invested, we save $10 in rebuilding, in repairing damage. Execution at the budget level is low,” he commented to RPP.

According to the Government Economic Transparency Portal, last year 68% budget designed at the national level to reduce vulnerability and address disaster emergencies, but not all regions and municipalities have adequately used resources.

Overall, it is estimated that at the national level, about S$450 million remained unused for public works for disaster prevention.

The regional governments Ucayali, Pasco, Lambayeque and Huancavelica they did not use even 10% of the budget allocated to them, i.e. out of every 100 soles they did not invest even 10 soles in prevention.

What is it about?

Mary Mollo, a disaster risk management specialist at ESAN University, explained that investment in prevention in some regions and municipalities is so low due to the inability to develop prevention projects.

“The low level of budget execution can be associated with several aspects: because it is included in the budget, but there are no projects prepared, there are projects that are not being implemented failure topolitical irresponsibility,” he said.

In addition, the expert pointed out that these disasters are caused not only by the impossibility of implementation, “but also by the fact that we do not reduce the vulnerability that already exists, in risk areas we cannot continue construction or allow human habitation.”

It is now estimated that more than 1,566,000 people are at risk from wacosas well as 448,246 residential buildings, 1,673 health facilities and 10,387 educational institutions at risk.

In total, 19,644 settlements may be affected, as they are located in dangerous areas. The departments with the most vulnerable populations are Cajamarca, Ancash, Huanuco, Amazonas, Junin and Huancavelica.

Greater influence

The economic situation of thousands of people in these regions is difficult, given that these areas have already been under blockade for several weeks, and in the case of farmers and ranchers, they also faced a severe drought, which is considered the worst in 58 years.

The executive director of the Peruvian Center for Social Research, Laureano del Castillo, explained how this affects agricultural sector.

“Flooding affects the land because excess water damages crops, excess water means loss of nutrients and, in more extreme cases, landslides, loss of soil. In the case of animals, excess water causes disease, and in cases of their disappearance to the extreme,” he said. .

One of the regions most affected by both drought and landslides is Arequipa, where the municipalities of Mariano Melgar, Orcopampa, Cerro Colorado and Castile have not spent even 5% of their budget on disaster prevention.

In the case of the municipality of the province of Arequipa, it is clear that investments in projects to reduce vulnerability and attention to disaster-related emergencies was 55%, meaning that almost half of the allocation was not spent by the authorities.