The winter wave has even the dead victims in a municipality of Tolima

Amparo Cárdenas has been in Palocabildo all his life; with his family he works in coffee farms, transport and trade companies; but, since the end of last year, the winter wave began in this area of northern Tolima. As of today, April 8, 2022, it has not stopped raining, emergencies due to collapses, floods, damage to houses, farms, schools and even the cemetery became part of everyday life.

Amparo warns that there is so much damage, that there is no way to “give enough to help everyone”.

Emergencies, mainly, are caused by the collapses and landslides that break off the slopes of the mountain, drag crops and houses, this claimed the lives of two young people 20 days ago, say the villagers. The tracks are also blocked, a situation that has already left them incommunicado on several occasions.

In addition, blockades are frequent, he says that until yesterday they were able to reopen the passage on the road between Casabianca and Palocabildo. This has worried the inhabitants about the effects on various aspects such as health, since the municipality has only one first-rate hospital; there are only general doctors who are doing their rural year, but because of the rains and collapses they could not reach the town. At the same time, there was no way to transfer patients to Ibague, the capital of Tolima; the closest alternative was to transfer them to Lebanon or Honda, but the passage was also complicated there.

Viviana Hurtado is another inhabitant of the municipality, and she said that the problem is sometimes so dramatic that they cannot even compromise, she says that from the beginning of the winter wave, in October, until the beginning of 2022 there were 110 landslides.

Even the dead have not been saved, the cemetery of the municipality has already collapsed a piece, so some vaults with human remains are exposed in the open air. They say that the problem with the holy field takes quite a long time, before the rains. What worries them is that if it collapses, access to the municipality is blocked and it can destroy the school or cause public health problems if a body leaves there.

Viviana assures that the cemetery has to be relocated,

Traders like Nixon Rozo say that, fortunately, they don't lack food, because they are an agricultural municipality, they grow coffee, bananas, avocados, cassava and many other products, but the peasants are not managing to get the crops out of their farms, not even the surrounding villages.

The economic impact is beginning to be felt in the rise in food prices, despite consuming what they sow, inputs are scarce and expensive, since they are not entering the villages. “A package of fertilizer was worth about 80 thousand or 100 thousand, now for cheap it is 220 thousand and up to 300 thousand have ordered,” says Rozo.

Several of the inhabitants contacted by Infobae say that the peasants are the most affected. But, both to the general population or those directly affected, neither the mayor nor the government have offered any help, beyond sending the machines to reopen the steps on the roads. Viviana gives as an example to the inhabitants of an area that is at risk of collapsing, in fact, a house has already fallen, the inhabitants had to leave there and the mayor's office gave them money for 2 months of rent, “they haven't offered or told us anything else about the rest”.

Amparo also expressed concern for children, several have not been able to attend classes because they cannot reach schools, even one of the institutions, paradoxically, ran out of water because an avalanche broke a pipeline in the aqueduct. Shortages also affected part of the municipality, this has happened several times, so they say, the service has become intermittent.

The rains do not stop, they even say that in the last month they intensified, so fear grows in the sidewalks, “at the land level the aid does not arrive, it is the part most affected, people have to manage on their own at the tip of the pick and shovel”, in addition, concern for crops is one of the most important factors because, although are in harvest, much has been lost; it should be noted that between September and October “la traviesa” comes, the second harvest of the year; but they are not sure of achieving it if the situation continues to worsen.

Even the head of Palcabildo is about to split in two,

They also analyzed a crack that was made in a retaining wall of the mountain, which, if opened, could generate a tragedy.

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