An avalanche occurred in the village of El Naranjal, Quetame, Cundinamarca, leaving eight dead and more than 15 missing as a preliminary balance.
The emergency occurred around 1:00 in the morning this Tuesday after heavy rains that ended up overflowing the Marcelita and Estaquecá streams.
The mayor of Quetame, Camilo Parrado, confirmed that among the deceased registered so far is a minor. “Many people are missing,” he reported. At least twenty houses have been completely destroyed by an avalanche that has also affected various accesses and roads.
The bridge that connects Villavicencio with the capital, Bogotá, and which had been damaged in similar catastrophes, has been one of these roads affected. On this occasion, it has been completely destroyed and communication between the two cities is impossible, while the village of El Naranjal has been the hardest hit.
“The situation is very difficult, first we attended to the wounded, we evacuated the families, we recovered the seven bodies. There are families that died in their entirety, we are advancing in the work to recover more victims,” Parrado told the microphones of RCN Radio .
Through Twitter, the governor of Cundinamarca, Nicolás García, pointed out that the bodies found correspond to seven adults and one minor. Five other injured people are treated at the Hospital de Cáqueza.
Due to the heavy rains that occur in the Guayabetal countryside, an avalanche occurred that we currently attend to with Risk Management and relief forces. So far we have a balance of five bodies found and we continue to search for the missing. pic.twitter.com/ngw4SbHago
– Nicolas Garcia Bustos (@nicolasgarciab) July 18, 2023
Faced with this situation, Olmedo López, director of the Disaster Risk Management Unit (UNGRD), pointed out that the entire National Risk Management System was activated and even the Air Force is being mobilized from Villavicencio to help with the evacuation. of the families affected in Quetame”.
In the same way, the official pointed out that so far there are 20 houses and a vehicular bridge destroyed.
For his part, Captain Álvaro Farfán, delegate of the Cundinamarca Fire Department, reported that there are more than 35 people evacuated, including six injured who were transferred to medical centers.
pronouncements
Through his Twitter account, President Gustavo Petro spoke about the tragedy and pointed out that there is a need to order the territory around the water and free up its spaces.
“The death that reaches Quetame, Cundinamarca, demonstrates the urgent need to order the territory around water and free up its spaces in the POT Plans of the municipalities. Mayors and mayors must prioritize this principle. My condolences to the victim families”, trilled the Head of State.
Likewise, the mayoress of Bogotá Claudia López indicated that “we deeply regret the tragedy in Quetame, we unite in solidarity with the families of the victims and we make available the collaboration that we can provide for the search for people who unfortunately continue to disappear. Cundinamarca we are with you!”.
News in development…