Colombia’s government plans to provide nearly $65 million in reconstruction funds to a neigborhood in the port of Cartagena after a geological fault destroyed hundreds of houses, President Juan Manuel Santos announced.
“We are going to give help that can add just over COP115 billion ($64.63 million), which is intended, for the most part, for housing, so that the people who suffered that disaster are left better off than they were before,” the president explained.
Santos was impressed with the work already being done by local authorities in the damaged neighborhood of the neighborhood of San Francisco, such as using local labor to pick up debris, providing leasing subsidies to displaced families, and repairing the markets to resume business.
The president also commended Cartagena Mayor Judith Pinedo, Risk Management Director Carlos Ivan Marquez, and the community itself for its cooperation in moving along the disaster relief efforts.
“The way you and your teams and especially the way the public has responded in this neighborhood is really exemplary. Without a scratch and without victims, the people have understood the need to relocate and the national government and the municipal government have been serving that population in a timely manner,” Santos added.
A newly developed geological fault in San Francisco has already reportedly destroyed 550 houses and displaced 2,600 families.