Last week I
got the chance to go to Chosica again. As mentioned in previous blogs, this is
one of the communities where we work. The aim of the visit was to talk to
people whose businesses were affected by the landslide and subsequent flooding
in March. And this was definitely the most impressing, and at the same time
devastating visit so far.
Driving
along the road leading out of Chosica we
stopped at this low building standing on a cliff, which looked quite neglected
at first sight. Two men were working outside, digging. Abel from Soluciones
Prácticas pointed to the side of the building, told me to look down the side of
the building. “Look”, he said, “the people here are still living in the tents the
municipality gave them right after the landslide in March”. Which was three
months ago.
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| The front of the building, and the destroyed machines |
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| Señor Vladimir Corso, still cleaning up |
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| Tents. People are still living in them |
The stories
we heard afterwards were as devastating as the living conditions were. A small
woman, marked from life, was trying to clean a heavy looking machine.
“Everything was destroyed by the landslide”, she said, showing us around the
front of the building. Señora Victoria Quispe de Corso had a tire business
before the landslide in March, selling and repairing car and truck tires. All
the machines she used for this were destroyed or broken by the landslide and flooding
in March. She shows us the machines: “it would cost so much to repair these
machines, and we just don’t have the money” she explains despaired. Since the
landslide end of March her business has been closed, and she has since not been
able to reopen it. She had 3 employees, all of which have now lost their job.
“Until today I still worry about what my family and I are going to eat, and how
we will survive”, she says, choking on her words.
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| Señora Victoria Quispe de Corso |
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| Señore Victoria showing us her destroyed machines |
The biggest
problem is that her official business documents were lost in the catastrophe in
March. As soon as the street was free again Señora Victoria went to the police
to report the loss. She was then told to go to the bank and pay 7 Soles, and
with this receipt she would be able to report the loss of her documents. She
did that, came back to the police station, where she was then told that it was
too late to report the loss, that she couldn’t do so any more. All losses have
to be reported latest 48 hours after the loss. This, in her case and many other
cases, was just not possible. Firstly because right after the catastrophe the
families were concerned about surviving, what they were going to eat and where
they were going to sleep. And secondly because the street was blocked by the
landslide so they were not even able to get to the municipality. But rules are
rules. Therefore, officially her business does not exist anymore as she has no
proof of it, and this also means that she won’t get any help from the state to
rebuild it. Abel emphasized on how important it was that she got the loss
reported. She should go again and again, he said, and insist that the loss gets
registered officially. Because without that she has no chance of rebuilding her
business and the existence of her family.
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| These are the only documents she managed to save: a couple of invoices |
Right after
the catastrophe happened her and her family received some food and water, as
well as a couple of mattresses, tents and blankets. But no other help apart
from that. “I was so scared after the
landslide, I just didn’t want to live here anymore”, she tells us, and looks
away. A couple of minutes later she had composed herself again: “It happened at
3 o’clock in the afternoon”, she remembers. “We were working up here. It came
so suddenly. Gracias a Dios I was able to hold onto something when the
landslide and the water came, otherwise I would have been carried down to the
valley. I don’t want to remember this anymore, it was so terrible”. At this
point her daughter comes to her aid, and continues their story.
Shortly after
the landslide an official from the municipality came to look at the houses and
constructions which had been affected, but since then they haven’t heard
anything, she tells us. As they don’t have insurance, nobody else could help
them to rebuild the family business. They emptied their savings and borrowed
some money, and managed to do the most necessary repairs on the house. But
still not everything is done – still part of the family is living in tents. At
least they have a functioning kitchen again – quite an important thing with a
family of 8. They had to wait for running water until the beginning of May –
for working electricity even until June 8. Up to then, everything had to be
improvised. At that point, Señor Victoria picks up again: “Gracias a Dios we
got helped with water until the water supply started working again”. But, she continues,
“Up to now, I am still preoccupied with the surviving of my family”. And at the
same time she needs to think of rebuilding her business, to be able to earn
money again. “We used to make 1500$-2000$ per month before the landslide”, she
tells us. Since March she has had no income what so ever, only expenses. They
even took up a loan, but as interest rates on loans are so high here she is
finding it very difficult to come up for the interest rates.
Right next
to Señora Victoria’s business her husband’s brother had his business, a
lubricants business. Señor Vladimir Corso tells us: “Since more than three
months we cannot work, and we can’t earn any money”. Standing in the entrance
of the garage he shows us how high the water was – it was almost head high!
“Thank god we have strong roofs, the houses were not totally destroyed” he
tells us. Like his sister-in-law he was not able to report the loss of his
business documents either. He was too late too, and made the same experience at
the police station when he went to report his loss. Three months later he is
still busy cleaning up, trying to set up business again. He had 2 employees,
both have not been able to return to work yet and thus they and their families
(both have two children) have been without income since March.
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| Señor Vladimir Corso |
They have
been other flooding and landslides before, tells us Señor Victoria, but this
one was the worst so far. Often only water came down, but with the giant stones
coming down too this time, and the sheer enormity of water, the destruction was
much worse than on other occasions.
As if these
stories weren’t enough, Señor Victoria and her brother-in-law tell us this at
the end: In January and February, shortly before the landslide, the
municipality had been building walls, on both sides of the path where the
landslides normally come down. They did so because walls like this can help if
it’s “only” water. But as not only water came down but also stones, mud and
sand, it actually made things worse. Additionally, they had not finished
building the walls when the landslide came down. So the half-finished
construction came crashing down with the landslide, making it’s force and size
even bigger. Abel explained what would help: they should build large stairs.
This would hold up both water and landslide, and lessen it’s force and
dimension.
In Chosica itself they were busy building the same kind of walls when the landslide occurred.
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| You still see exactly where the landslide came down |
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| Some people made a business out of the landslide: these men are selling stones |
