More than 45,000 people have been affected by floods and river floods caused by intense rains in various regions of Peru, mainly in the north of the country.
In 2022, 67.6% of public resources allocated to vulnerability reduction and emergency care were spent due to disastersHave you really invested in prevention?
A total of SGD 759 million has been spent by the three levels of government, and while the amount spent is higher than in other years, the current situation does not allow us to see much difference from previous emergencies.
According to Transparency data from the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), the smallest investments The regional governments did this because they stopped fulfilling about 40% of their allotment, meaning they used only six out of every 10 sols they had available.
While areas such as Callao and Junin are showing 100% utilization of their resources, a number of regions are experiencing rather low utilization, especially in the northern regions.
The northern regions lag behind the most in these investments. Lambayeque and Tumbes, which invested less than half of what was allocated for these emergencies.
In Lambaek only 4.3% of the total disaster prevention was used, while in Tumbes 21% of the budget was used and in Piura they spent 52% of their resources.
Looking at the Transparency portal, it is noted that Lambayeque used this minimum budget only to establish a flood protection and control service on the left bank of the river. milk river in the El Culpon sector, in the Illimo area, which at present appears to be flooded and houses destroyed due to the overflow of the aforementioned river.
The situation becomes more critical when investments are taken into account municipalities in Lambaiequesince on average they spent S/0 on disaster prevention during 2022. Tukume, San Jose, Olmos and Mochumi counties did not spend a dime on disaster prevention last year, according to MEF data.
“The worst-performing municipalities were concentrated in Lambayeque, where there was no investment related to the concept in 2022 due to the closure of projects aimed at rebuilding infrastructure damaged by El Niño in 2017 and the lack of physical progress. in the creation of a river defense on the right bank of the San Cristobal River, ”says the ComexPerú analysis.
Also in the north, the municipalities of Ancash and La Libertad ranked third and fifth with the worst results. government spending in disaster prevention.
In Ancash, they only completed 33% of the annual risk reduction budget, while in La Libertad, the municipalities spent 56.4% of their resources on prevention.
Why is there so little investment?
Experts note that investments in the prevention of some regions and the municipalities are so low because of the inability to develop preventive projects.
“The low level of budget execution can be related to several aspects: because it is included in the budget, but there are no projects prepared, the presence of projects that are not carried out due to incapacity, political irresponsibility,” explained Mary Mollo, a risk management specialist, several weeks ago about the disasters at ESAN University.
In the same vein, the ComexPerú report also indicates that the authorities do not have sufficient capacity to manage the prevention riskswhich limits the proper prioritization and planning of investments throughout the year.
It was indicated that by 2019 more than half of the municipalities needed training in disaster risk assessment and at least 48.9% needed training to prepare disaster risk prevention and reduction plans.
For example, in the case of Piura, after the 2017 El Niño event and the destruction of more than 22,000 homes in the region, nearly half of its municipalities still required risk assessment training in 2019.
In addition to this, it is worth mentioning that, according to Mollo, these disasters They are produced not only because of the impossibility of implementation, “but also because we do not reduce the already existing vulnerability, in risk areas we cannot continue building or allow human habitation.”
Source: RPP
I’m Liza Grey, an experienced news writer and author at the Buna Times. I specialize in writing about economic issues, with a focus on uncovering stories that have a positive impact on society. With over seven years of experience in the news industry, I am highly knowledgeable about current events and the ways in which they affect our daily lives.