Death toll from landslides increases to five in Cachipay and Viota, Cundinamarca

The heavy rains that occurred in Cundinamarca on Thursday night and early Friday caused two landslides in the municipalities of Viotá and Cachipay, which already left five people dead and two others missing.

This was announced by the governor of Cundinamarca, Nicolás García Bustos, who reported that, in Liberia Baja, the municipality of Viotá, they found a new body corresponding to one of the members of the family of five whose house was buried due to an avalanche. With the rescue of that body, there would already be three people recovered in the area and two people whose whereabouts are unknown.

The official then reported that yellow machinery and water storage tanks were used in the Lower Liberia sector, in order to be able to supply the community with drinking water since the aqueduct ended up being destroyed after the avalanche.

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On the other hand, the governor of Cundinamarca confirmed that in the rural area of Cachipay the number of deaths increased from one to two, after they found the other body of the two people who were buried by a landslide in the middle of the winter emergency. According to the official, so far they have not been able to establish the identity of the two victims.

The departmental president indicated that, after the two emergencies in Viota and Cachipay, they sent humanitarian aid, heavy machinery and crews for the removal of debris and the repair of roads that have been affected by precipitation.

According to García, they are currently working on more than 90 secondary, tertiary roads, and in the main road corridors of the department that have been most affected by the winter season.

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The governor of Cundinamarca made it clear that they will not stop the search work in the municipalities, until the two people who are still missing are found. “All our solidarity and support with the families of the people who lost their lives in these tragic events,” García said.

Here is the full video with the statements of the governor of Cundinamarca:

The National Fire Department of Cundinamarca announced in its latest balance sheet, which was cut to April 22, that 74 municipalities in the department have already been affected by rainfall.

As reported by the fire brigade to the newspaper El Espectador, three simultaneous emergencies were reported to date in the municipalities of Cachipay, Viotá and Tocaima, while an average of 220 calls were recorded for events related to sudden increases, landslides, falls of trees and benches in the department .

They also indicated that, since the beginning of the first rainy season of the year, 85 of the 116 municipalities in Cundinamarca have been affected by winter emergencies in which, to date, 10 people have died.

According to the governor of Cundinamarca, after the reported emergencies, they are removing rocky material from the Uchuta roads, Volcán trail, and in the San Pedro trail, Macondo sector, which were affected after the landslides.

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