Why the Government Hasn't Rebuilt San Andrés After Hurricane Iota

After 16 months after Hurricane Iota, which caused significant human and material losses and the pachydermal reconstruction of the San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina Archipelago, the National University of Colombia has reflected on the causes of the failures.

Professor Ana Isabel Márquez, from the National University of Colombia (UNAL) Sede Caribe explains that “the Archipelago is currently overburdened, and its ecological base is still very affected by Hurricane Iota. Unfortunately, many things have not been taken into account or are being reviewed so far, because the Government has realized that it is not aware of the local dynamics.”

According to the teacher, “so far no complete work has been delivered and there are still people who are still living in tents, but the most serious thing is that the voice of the community has not been heard, even though it is the one that knows its territory, its ways of life and the one that faced the disaster”.

This would help to explain, in part, the failures of the Government, which has been at the forefront of everything, according to Professor Márquez “with a centralist vision that does not know the territory and the local culture, and that has profound consequences, because although the population of Raizal is the majority in Providencia, their knowledge of the dynamics of territory has not been taken into account”.

With regard to how the reconstruction process is going, Professor Santiago Moreno, also from the UNAL Caribbean Headquarters, pointed out that the Government's initial proposal for the reconstruction of housing was based on ignorance of the environmental and cultural conditions of the islands, located 700 km from Cartagena.

According to the teacher, the figure with which President Duque came out to the media promising that in 100 days the houses would be for the community, he gave it because these prefabricated houses came from catalogs produced on the continent, before which the community rejected and proceeded to convene consultation tables with local builders and officials of the Ministry of Housing.

At the tables, it was agreed that the island house should have at least one safe space and preserve the island's cultural identity, according to its customs and customs.

In the same vein, Professor Márquez emphasizes that the Government's efforts have been concentrated on infrastructure, neglecting other facets of what reconstruction, economic reactivation and the protection of cultural identity mean. “Although some believe that these are not important, they are fundamental because they are the ones that guarantee the survival of the Raizal people in their territory and maritorium (as an image of the 'territory' but from and in the sea)” explained Professor Márquez.

On the designs, Findeter assumed control of the design and execution, for which it hired Contexto Urbano, a Bogotá design firm, to draw up the technical and detailed drawings. In addition, for the execution it selected a consortium with three of the main construction companies in the country: Amarilo, Bolívar and Marval.

The result is a project that relies on skilled labor, with industrial production materials with a high carbon footprint, difficult to expand and modify and which involved the arrival on the island of more than 1,000 operators.

He did not consider the option of wooden constructions, a traditional system of the islands and which in the United States has proven to resist hurricanes, since there are 98% of the houses built that way.

The UNAL proposes a model of an island house

Professor Clara Eugenia Sánchez, from the UNAL Caribbean Headquarters, points out that “the Raizal Authority, through Secretary Walt Hayes, asked the University for support in the work tables.”

The Unal proposal proposes a lightweight wooden framework (ballon frame/plattform), a system that allows the use of breezes, as well as windows with hinges that when closed protect the house against the hurricane, and cistern that stores rainwater.”

He adds that “problems such as poor connection between system elements or improper anchoring have already been solved in the timber framework, thanks to the development of structural connectors, anchors and fastening systems that make structures safer and more resistant”.

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