Colombia is trying to collect at least $532 million in donations to help the more than 1.3 million victims of this year’s record-breaking rainy season that has cost the lives of 150 people.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on Tuesday begins a national campaign to provide basic necessities such as shelter, food and medicine to the victims of floods and landslides.
The government created a special relief fund to provide immediate help to those in need and will set money aside for the reconstruction of destroyed lands and homes.
Santos, supported by the Colombian Red Cross, asked wealthy Colombians to “adopt a family” and mitigate the suffering of victims.
According to meteorologists, this year’s rainy season, which started in March and is expected to last until next year, is the worst in 60 years. Authorities have declared an emergency situation in almost all the country’s departments and the national government decreed a state of calamity to deal with the increasing amount of flood emergencies.
Bogota last week warned it had ran out of funds to help the victims and called on the international community and the country’s private sector to help.