The Colombian government said Tuesday it will invest $30 million in an action plan to be able to quickly attend to emergencies expected during the upcoming rainy season predicted for September.
Director of Risk Management of the Interior Ministry, Carlos Ivan Marquez, said in a press release that the money is to be spent on food, machinery to remove debris, temporary accommodation and housing subsidies.
Marquez called on city halls, local governments and autonomous regional corporations, schools, health centers and those in the agricultural, transport and energy sectors to implement their own prevention plans and remain alert during this second rainy season.
The director of Colombia’s Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM), Ricardo Lozano said that the second rainy season would begin in the middle of September and last until the middle of December.
The floods and landslides of the last rainy season left over 300 people dead or missing and 2.3 million were adversely affected in other ways.