The
consequences of flooding and landslides are well known: death,
injury and homelessness. But there are other, lesser known effects,
such as new employment opportunities.
In vulnerable Colombian communities hit last month by torrential
rains, there is a new job position on the market: the patrol.
What is a patrol?
Affected families often fear that their flooded houses will
be looted and so, not wanting to lose their remaining possessions,
whether damaged by water or not, they “hire” and
organize youths to watch over the flooded areas and prevent
robbery.
However, these patrols do not carry arms to do their job. They
rely on their youth, athleticism and superior numbers to deter
potential looters.
The Colombian Red Cross (CRC) Society is working with communities
in the flood-hit municipality of Monteria, in Cordoba department,
where these young patrols are not only responsible for security,
but for pumping away the stagnant waters too. In exchange, they
don’t receive a salary but food and shelter.
As I look at the scenario - an entire town half covered by dirty
water - I doubt that a single pump can manage this titanic job.
Perhaps I lack faith.
I ask Jacinto, a patrol member from the community of El Poblado,
what the worst part of the job is.
“Snakes,” he answers. “We have to be very
careful. Two days ago, a couple that was trying to return to
their house was bitten by a snake”.
Snake bites are only one of the health problems that floods
bring; others include malaria, yellow fever, dengue and diarrhoea,
diseases linked to a lack of clean water.
“Please, tell the whole community that the Red Cross has
the antidote for snake venom – Please tell them, in case
you have another snake incident,” Elva Rosa García,
coordinator of primary health care in Cordoba’s Red Cross
branch, tells the patrol.
I turn around and see plenty of fearless kids playing shoeless
in the water. They don’t care about snakes or illnesses.
The communities I have visited, El Poblado, Nispero and Villa
Paz, are full of children.
With an average family here having between six and eight kids,
it is little wonder that more than half of those affected are
children.
In the name of these large and vulnerable families, which require
immediate humanitarian assistance, the Colombian Red Cross Society
has asked the government to declare a national state of emergency,
to make it easier to mobilize resources and raise funds.
The International Federation, meanwhile, launched an emergency
appeal on 5 November for 950,000 Swiss francs (US$ 795,000)
to support the CRC in its operation to assist 4,000 families.
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More
than half of those affected by the floods in Colombia
are children (p12178)
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Jorge,
Jacinto and Santiago: three of the young members of the
patrols in El Poblado (p12180)
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The
children are not afraid of the snakes or illnesses that
lurk in the stagnant floodwaters (p12181)
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