Flooding in Colombia brings destruction and disease

Más de 20 muertos, 30.000 damnificados, 300 casas destruidas, decenas de carreteras y puentes inservibles y centenares de hectáreas de cultivos anegadas, dejaron las fuertes lluvias caídas esta semana en Colombia, informaron las autoridades.

Los departamentos de Santander y Norte de Santander, en el nordeste, y el Tolima, oeste, son los más afectados por los torrenciales aguaceros, que se iniciaron el pasado martes 8.

El Instituto de Hidrología, Meteorología y Estudios Ambientales (Ideam, estatal) advirtió que las lluvias se prolongarán durante los próximos días.

La mayoría de víctimas mortales se registraron en Bucaramanga, Girón, Lebrija, Betulia y San Vicente de Chucurí, en el departamento de Santander, donde algunos ríos, como el Frío, el Oro y e Sogamoso, se salieron de su cauce y destruyeron barrios ribereños.

Algunos sectores de Bucaramanga y de sus municipios vecinos fueron declarados por las autoridades como zona de desastre.

El gobernador de Santander, Hugo Aguilar Naranjo, dijo que varios de los municipios de su territorio están incomunicados debido a que decenas de deslizamientos cortaron las carreteras.

Los ministros del Interior, Sabas Pretelt, y de Protección Social, Diego Palacio, así como el director de la Oficina de Atención de Emergencias, Eduardo José González, visitarán este domingo las zonas afectadas.

Los altos cargos evaluarán los daños y las necesidades más sentidas para iniciar los envíos de ayuda oficial a los afectados.

"Estamos invitando a las autoridades para que incrementemos las medidas que impidan la construcción de asentamientos humanos en zonas de riesgo", dijo el ministro del Interior.

Las fuertes lluvias en Colombia y Venezuela, según el Ideam, se originan por la presencia de un frente frío sobre el Caribe.

La entidad advirtió sobre los riesgos de más deslizamientos en zonas de ladera y desbordamiento de algunos ríos. (EFE)











Dramatic rescue captured by amateur video

Photo Blog of the Floods of Colombia

Flooding in Colombia brings destruction and disease

By Marta Lucía Moreno Carreño
The floods damage everything in the village. Septic tanks overflow, contaminating the water that runs through the streets like rivers, and bringing diseases like diarrhoea, colds and dengue fever.
The water brings with it other dangers too, including snakes looking for a dry place to escape from the flood.
"I've lost count of how many I've killed in my house. I don't wait to see if they are poisonous or not, I kill them all," says Miguel, a young man whose modest dream is to get a temporary job in the oil wells near Barrancabermeja.
UNICEF Image
© UNICEF/Colombia/2008/Duran
In addition to the diseases brought by the floods, children run the risk of poisonous snake attacks when the reptiles enter homes looking for dry places.

A forgotten village
Puerto Casabe is mainly a port for fishermen and boatmen, and many of its residents used to make their living ferrying people from one side of the river to the other. But that was before the bridge between Barrancabermejo and Yondó was built. Today it is a vereda – a small community – whose poverty clashes with the wealth of the oil wells surrounding it.
"The river is life and beauty, and when it's not angry it gives us many fish," says Luz Mary, a fisherwoman from the village. "When everything floods, the gas and electricity go off, and we have to go looking for soggy firewood so we can cook.  Afterwards we're left with the headaches, the itchiness, the colds."
UNICEF Image
© UNICEF/Colombia/2008/Duran
A young mother carries her son through the flooded streets.

Preventing illness
UNICEF is working to help treat and prevent illnesses among those affected by the flooding. In partnership with the University of Santander, UNICEF has provided humanitarian assistance in health, nutrition and hygiene practices to 4,000 children affected by the emergency throughout the Magdalena Medio region.
Nurses from the Industrial University of Santander are teaching health practices, which is especially appreciated by the villagers. These days, the nurses are among the few people that return to see how they are doing, and they are grateful for the moral support, and for the information the nurses provide about caring for their health and their children, and about hygiene measures they can take in emergency situations.
UNICEF is also distributing water filters and mosquito nets impregnated with repellent to prevent the spread of further disease.



PUERTO CASABE, Colombia, 17 December 2008 – In Puerto Casabe there are 60 families, 98 children, 100 adults and a lot of water. Every year, the majestic Magdalena river floods their wood and brick homes.

Grand Christmas Latin Dance Party/Tremendo Rumbón Navideño: A GOOD CAUSE TO SALSA

As many of you know, in conjuction with our regular Noches Calenas/Cali Nights, we are raising funds for two GOOD CAUSES to Salsa, the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Locally, and for selected charities and projects in Latin and Central America Globally.

At  our December 19th, GRAND CHRISTMAS LATIN DANCE PARTY,  we will be  accepting donations for the International Red Cross of Colombia, to aid the victims and persons affected by the recent floods in many regions of Colombia. You can donate on line, or bring your cash, cheque or money order donations to the party. (Please, make cheques and money orders payable to Comité Internacional de la Cruz Roja Colombiana)

As always during our regular Cali Nights, we will continue to collect non perishable food items and cash donations for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank, and for this event only, we chose another GOOD CAUSE to Salsa locally: the Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau.

Bring your donation of a WRAPPED gift item for the Christmas Bureau, or GENTLY USED coats for children at any time between 1PM and 1AM to the location of the event, 728 Kingsway, Vancouver BC (Hungarian Hall). Please attach a note to your wrapped gift indicating if the gift is for a boy, a girl, and what age group is it intended for. Please do not forget the often over looked pre-teens and teenagers when choosing your gift, or the coats.



As our thanks for your donation, and support of our GOOD CAUSES to SALSA, we are offering free admission for either the day, or night event, when you bring a gift, a coat, or a minimum donation of $10.00 to either of our GOOD CAUSES.

We are offering free admission to children (up to 12years and their accompanying adults (one adult per two children) for our day event, 1PM to 7PM, as well as a complementary Baby Steps to Salsa lesson and mini dance for children between 1:30 and 2:30PM and a complimentary (with cover)beginner salsa lesson from 2:30 to 3:30PM.

In addition, we have a limited number of FREE day passes available for youth and teenagers (12-19 years old). If you know anyone, or work for an organization that could use those tickets, please send an e-mail to GitanaGitana@live.com or call 778-397-1339 as soon as possible.

For more info on the event, please check our event page or find us on facebook.

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Salsa Calendar for A Good Cause

We are very lucky in and around Vancouver, as we have a vibrant, diverse and very lively Salsa/Latin Dance community. Those addicted to Salsa as much as this blogger (affectionately and self indulgently calling herself La Reina Gitana del Palacio)  can almost at any given weekday and every day or night of a  weekend enjoy almost any variety of Latin Dance in a variety of great venues.

We have world class instructors, performers, salsa festivals and events.

To celebrate and commemorate our Latin Dance Community, AND to raise funds for a Good Cause, in collaboration with ImaGINAtion Photo Arts, we are planning to create and release a

Salsa in Vancouver, 2011 Calendar

Performers, Instructors, Salsa Dancers, Professionals, Volunteers, Event Organizers, Salsa Addicts are welcome to submit their bio and/or promotional material and information for your regular ongoing events to be  included in the Calendar. Don't miss your chance to be Ms. or Mr. Salsero or Salsera of  of the Month!

Take this as an opportunity for shameless self promotion, advertising, a pat on the back, giving back to the community, or whatever gets your Mo-Jo flowing.

Submission deadline is November 30th, 2010. Calendars will be available for sale online mid December 2010 to February 2011, and will be available at various vendors, services and Salsa Events all around the Greater Vancouver Area. 100 percent of proceeds will go to our Good Causes: The Greater  Vancouver Food Bank locally, and Casita Belen of Colombia globally.

For more information, rules, and submissions, send an e-mail to La Gitana at GitanaGitana@live.com
or call: 778-397-1339