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Proceso 1164
October 5 2005
ISSN 0259-9864
Editorial: The “revenge” of the environment
Politics: The government loses the sense of direction
Economy: The economy, the environment, and the disasters
The “revenge” of the environment
El Salvador does not need a
hurricane to collapse. The first one was Adrian, which never arrived. Then there
were the indirect effects of three hurricanes combined and several tropical
storms; the intense rain revealed the careless attitude of the government about
both the city’s infrastructure and the whole country. The eruption of the
Volcano of Santa Ana was added to this, thousands of people lived in the area.
Before the presence of the threat of the first hurricane, President Saca
presented himself as a national leader, with executive capacity, and prepared to
face an emergency of great proportions, but that never took place. However, now,
before this actual situation of emergency, the President himself has appeared
defeated before the press, without any proposals, without the capacity to
prevent the disaster, that is, as overwhelmed by the water, just like the
capital city and the entire country. The constant floods have reminded those
that usually forget about the fact that, just around the corner of a modern city
full of shopping malls, there is an underdeveloped city of the third world and a
poor country. The loss of human lives caused by the landslides and the floods
have questioned the wonders of that country the government speaks so highly
about.
While the city floats, the central government and the local government of the
metropolitan area have kept alive their dispute about the responsibility of the
sewerage and the drainage system. Since the presidential inauguration, the
President and the Mayor of San Salvador had not met to discuss the weak
infrastructure of the city, despite the fact that Saca promised to become a
close collaborator of Rivas Zamora. However, in the end, the interests of the
President’s party were more important than anything else because the President
also runs the governmental party. Nothing much came out of the new meeting. They
decided to create one more commission to study this matter, although there are
many studies about these cases that were made back in 2003 and the government of
ARENA should know about it. These studies clearly explain that the intense rain
would create inundations just like the ones of these weeks. They also indicate
that since the constructions of the residential areas, shopping malls, and
streets seal the ground and prevent the filtration of the water, this water runs
like a river towards the lower parts of the city because of the natural
pressure. Therefore, the “thesis of the flood of the times” of the Saca
administration has no foundation or whatsoever. The only possible explanation is
the lack of interest in these issues. Landslides and floods are not the whims of
nature, but a direct consequence of the irresponsible performance of the ARENA
administrations and the construction companies. The fact that in the last years
the rain was not as intense as it has been this time does not mean that rain
itself is an extraordinary phenomenon. On the contrary. The difference is that
now the disorganized construction of buildings and streets has led to an extreme
kind of vulnerability.
The population, without a doubt, needs to be educated in order to help and keep
tidy and free of garbage both the natural and the artificial drainages; however,
this is not the solution for a structural problem. To make the people
responsible for their ignorance and their carelessness does not free the
government of ARENA from its own responsibilities. The terrible conditions in
which many people live is not a free choice either because they have no
alternative. They have always known that they live playing with tragedy in a
high risk area. Poverty pushes them towards that precariousness and towards that
danger. The imprudent constructions of urbanizations is also the responsibility
of the government, since it has either authorized them or tolerated them. Most
of the landslides have occurred, paradoxically, in many of the recently
inaugurated streets, avenues, and roads that communicate different areas. They
did not pay attention to the structure of the land. The older infrastructures
have not received proper technical care.
The brilliant National Emergency Committee (COEN, in Spanish) has been
overwhelmed by the crisis. Its structures are not efficient, it does not have
precise information to educate the population or to deal with the press, and the
help that it brings is stained with a political color, it prefers to help those
communities that are loyal to ARENA, and not the society as a whole. Just like
in other cases of emergency, the private organizations and the communities have
done more than the government. That is why, with a certain sense of frustration,
the people demand the assistance that never arrives and the help that is denied
to them. The authorities indicate what are the areas that have to be evacuated,
but most of the poor families have nowhere to go. The shelters are not enough,
and they do not have all of the equipment they need. Some families prefer to
live in danger and not to abandon their houses in order to take care of their
few possessions, because they are not certain that the police and the army will
take care of them, as the government promised. Those people that have lost the
few things they had will have to start all over again on their own.
The governmental position before the need to get international aid is even more
incomprehensible. The Saca administration thinks that it can face the cost of
the emergency with its own funds when it does not even have enough money to
finance its regular social program. At present, it only has a few millions,
taken from here and there, from this year’s ordinary budget. The apparently
sensible attitude of the government –not to ask for what is unnecessary-, is a
façade, because the immediate needs go way beyond its financial capacity, an
because its short-sighted perspective does not allow it to look into the medium
and the long-term. In spite of the vulnerability revealed by the disaster, the
government still does not see the complex nature of the infrastructure tasks
that it should adopt to mitigate and prevent risk, particularly in the
metropolitan areas and in the coast, in order to relocate the population that
lives in the high-risk areas to provide them with a decent house, and to
palliate the loss of the agricultural production of subsistence. This probably
means that the government does not want to reveal that most of the national
income, that puts El Salvador among the countries with an average income, is
scandalously concentrated in just a few hands.
Out of this myopic vision of the national reality, shared by most of the press
that seems to be “delighted” when it describes the tragedy, nothing much can be
expected. Since the government cannot see anything beyond the evident, the press
should ask the right questions to understand this situation and to look for an
actual solution. To be concerned about the accumulation of water is not enough,
because the intensity of the rain is nothing but the most superficial
explanation. A divine sort of protection would be more helpful if the government
of ARENA would not be content with just “some security measures” and with being
“alert”, the priority would be in this case to take the environment seriously.
It is ironic that, in these circumstances, the government wants to keep a slogan
that claims that El Salvador is “a safe country to progress in peace”. The last
couple of weeks have revealed the contrary. Not only the social violence is a
source of insecurity, the irresponsible way in which society has treated nature
is also a source of insecurity.
The government loses the sense of direction
In just a few days, a couple of natural disasters of great
proportions have affected the Salvadoran territory: the eruption of the volcano
of Santa Ana, and the inundations caused by hurricane Stan. According to the
available information, 75 people died, and more than 17,000 people have been
evacuated from their houses. The material destruction caused by the landslides
and the alarming situation in the main roads is overwhelming. On the October 4th
edition of El Diario de Hoy, the newspaper indicated that 65% of the territory
was in a situation of risk.
It is true that the natural disasters cannot be prevented in many senses, but it
is also important to admit that there was plenty of information available to
minimize the impact of the two environmental cases that keep the population
concerned. For instance, a month ago, the National Service of Territorial
Studies (SNET, in Spanish) had been issuing warnings about the increasing level
of activity of the volcano of Santa Ana.
The only ones that took these warnings seriously were several people that lived
close to the area, who decided to abandon that zone on time. As an answer to the
former situation, the authorities of the official institution, created to
confront this kind of eventualities, the National Emergency Committee (COEN, in
Spanish), indicated that it would not help those that would evacuate their homes
by their own means, and that it was not the time to leave the area. When the
volcano threw ashes and stones, those communities that paid attention to the
statements of the COEN paid the consequences. On the afternoon of October 3rd,
the Committee itself had to take back what it said in Santa Ana. The Committee
asked the inhabitants of the southern area of Santa Tecla and the Colonia
Montebello, in San Salvador, to evacuate their homes because of the possible
floods.
Although the presence of hurricane Adrian in El Salvador was more of a
psychological phenomena, it is necessary to admit that the early attempts to
evacuate worked out relatively well. It seemed as if it was the first stage of a
preventive plan of the national disasters, before the improvisation schemes that
have always prevailed.
Between the last most important couple of natural disaster (the earthquakes of
2001 and the present situation) there are four years. There was enough time to
create an efficient disaster prevention system, that would include early
evacuation mechanisms and the detection of risk-areas. Much of that could have
been achieved if there had been coordinated efforts between the central
government, the city halls, and the organization of the civil society. The
political rivalries are more powerful that the national interests.
Now they proudly exhibit the close relationship between the Executive authority
and the City Hall of San Salvador. This is a positive initiative, without a
doubt, but, it is not enough. Beyond the statements of good intentions made by
President Saca and Mayor Rivas Zamora, no one has seen the profile of an
effective coordination. The central government and the City Hall of Santa Ana
did not have a similar approach when it came to face the volcanic eruption. And
there definitively has not been a relationship between the organizations of the
communities that were affected.
A “no” to the international aid
When there is a sense of public calamity such as the present one, it is
necessary to accept as much help as possible. That is why it is not easy to
understand the statements of the chancellor Francisco Lainez, published by the
newspapers on October 4th. He indicated that, at the time being, his government
would not seek international aid. According to the chief of the Salvadoran
diplomacy, the country can face the emergency with the funds of the State.
The announcement made by Lainez took place in a moment when the Executive
authority already has a proposal for next year’s general budget of the nation.
In addition the Legislative Assembly approved an emergency fund of $1.5 million,
in order that the government is able to face the present crisis. This is the
right moment to get the budget approved without any delays. By trusting the
public treasury, without the need to seek international aid, the government has
it all justified so the congressmen approve next year’s budget as well.
However, is it realistic to say that the government can face the situation
created by the natural disasters? The financing source of the public expense are
the taxpayers. They are under an incredible amount of pressure at the time
without even considering the public calamity situation itself –which, by the
way, will increase the expenses, to take care of the immediate needs as well as
to rebuild the infrastructure that was affected. The eruption of the volcano of
Santa Ana and the floods have turned the people’s attention towards another
problem that is affecting the family’s economy: the increasing prices of fuel.
The present budget rests over an economic responsibility that belongs basically
to the taxpayers that have lower incomes. Will they be able to finance all of
the extraordinary expenses of the reconstruction?
The unknown reconstruction expenses
No one has said how much it will cost to rebuild the affected infrastructure.
The expenses to rebuild the roads will be extremely high, but that is not all.
No one has seen the essential problem: what about the situation of the
communities that lost their homes. What will happen to the areas at risk? What
will happen to the people that live in the shelters for now? Will they be able
to start all over, will they ever have a home again? If this is so, what are the
assistance plans of the government? And if not, are they on their own?
The government has lost its sense of direction in this national disaster
conjunction. This is not a coincidence. This is not a matter of faith or chance.
This is the logical consequence of not having a vision. Unfortunately, the
opposition also seems to be lost. It is more interested in the political
benefits of this bad governmental image than in how to contribute in an
effective manner. Nothing much can be accomplished with an extraordinary session
and with requesting for a minute of silence for the victims. The only thing that
can be accomplished with this is to create a certain impact through the media,
which is something that cannot be turned down in the pre-electoral context.
However, the letter which requested to declare the Cordillera del Balsamo a
protected area remains filed in a drawer. If the request had been accepted, the
level of danger connected with the landslides in Santa Tecla and other places
would have been less overwhelming. As always, in the disaster situations they
always say that “the turbulent waters of a river are always profitable for the
fishers”.
The economy, the environment, and the disasters
In this week, the intense amount of rain has brought a
great loss of human lives and structural destruction. The constant level of rain
in all of the Salvadoran territory has left many buildings, houses, and streets
in bad shape. In the urban areas, the overflowing creeks have undermined the
foundations of the houses, and the families have had to take out their
furniture, their appliances, and other personal belongings. This situation shows
the high level of vulnerability that the country has, and its limited capacity
to answer to a national environmental phenomenon such as this one.
For many, the best attitude to face this situation is to resign ourselves to
this type of vulnerability. To acknowledge that before the presence of the
destructive power of nature nothing much can be done. In this line of thought,
many public officials have stated that not even a powerful country such as the
United States has been able to face the threats of nature. This is how they
justify why for our country it will be extremely difficult to take care of this
problem. Even if this sort of consideration is somehow valid as far as the
economic resources are concerned, it should not be an excuse to ignore that many
of the disasters that have occurred this week have been the result of the
negligence in the construction process of the new infrastructure.
This is not the first time that this kind of phenomena strikes the Salvadoran
society. Years ago, the country went through similar situations –for instance,
with both the hurricanes Mitch (in the late Nineties) and Fifi (during the
mid-Seventies). During these disasters the country’s infrastructure was also
affected. However, the consequences were not as terrible as this time. Several
analysts agree that the incredible amount of damage caused by the weather went
hand in hand with the urbanization process in the different areas of the
country. The construction of houses and roads in portions of land that are not
adequate areas intensified the creation of highly vulnerable areas in the
country, and in the worst of the cases, this ended with the loss of many human
lives. A better planning and an improved coordination process in the urban areas
could be an excellent measure to reduce the risk level.
The conception of governmental development is questioned
One of the ways in which the Salvadoran government conceives the concept of
development is clearly associated with the creation of new infrastructure in the
country. The construction of new roads and shopping malls is presented many
times as evidence of the country’s progress towards an economic improvement
favorable for the society. Certainly, all of this is necessary to increase the
population’s welfare level; however, frequently enough, the most important urban
infrastructure projects are poorly developed, and the environmental impact is
therefore not actually considered.
The trees are cut down, the hills are destroyed to build shopping malls or
residential areas, and the inauguration of new roads are factors that have a
strong impact during the rainy season. Instead of becoming a positive factor for
the population, the development of new infrastructure in the end intensifies the
country’s vulnerability level. In other words, the inadequate use of the land, a
crucial resource of the economy, has serious effects for the society as a whole.
The development of these important infrastructure projects is due sometimes to
the abuse of the business elite, an abuse allowed by the government. It is true
that the businessmen have to have enough freedom to do their transactions, which
obviously include the creation of new infrastructure. However, it is something
completely different to have an enormous ambition for power and that the
government allows this situation by authorizing businessmen to build houses,
roads, and shopping malls in vulnerable areas. The governmental efforts to
establish an “economic model of freedoms” with an emphasis of the freedom of the
business companies end up causing much pain to thousands of families.
The best evidence of this situation is the conditions in which many streets and
urbanizations are after they have been recently built. It is important to say
that certain urban areas of recent construction did collapse. The urbanizations
with a high level of vulnerability were built eight or nine years ago, and they
are already severely affected. Construction projects such as “Via del Mar”,
“Campos Verdes”, Pinares de Suiza, and several urbanizations in Santa Elena are
a clear sample of this problem. In a similar way, the construction of new roads
and streets without a good drainage system has allowed the rain to create an
impressive amount of mud, which affects the traffic flow. A clear example of all
this is the Panoramic Road, which, according to the newspapers, looked “like a
river”.
In this sense, this is not about stopping the creation process of new
infrastructure due to the damages caused during this week. Such measure would
not be positive for the nation because it would not allow the economy to create
new resources or employment positions. This is actually about establishing a
balance between the prifit creation process and the environment. Not all of the
profitable projects should be understood as development projects, especially
when this kind of infrastructure generates such negative situations in times
like this.
The lack of respect of the businessmen towards the environment is a very
expensive price to pay. The damage caused to nature destroys the constructions
made in the inappropriate areas. Unfortunately, when this happens, the houses do
not belong to the construction companies anymore. That is why it is important
that the government establishes strict regulations able to consider the high
vulnerability levels that the country has.
The construction of houses, streets, bridges, and other buildings should not be
planned in an indiscriminate manner. However, it seems as if the development
model that the government follows legitimates this kind of interaction between
men and nature. In the governmental vision, the construction of more and more
buildings, even if it means to turn the environment more and more vulnerable, is
presented as a sample of the country’s economic development.
From an environmental perspective, it is evident that the events of this week do
reveal that the country’s development model is not a viable project. It is
necessary to place our bets on other paradigms and in other models of
development able to respect the natural environment. When the production process
takes place and the merchandise circulates, a person not only interacts with
others, but he also deals with the natural environment. This is where he gets
the raw materials, and when these materials are transformed, for the production
of goods and services, the environment is modified as well. By doing so, the
natural processes are modified, and if this modification is irrational, terrible
catastrophes follow.
If the economic rationality of the businessmen does not change, the processes of
accumulation of capital will be affected by the ecological disasters. It is not
enough that they play a philanthropic role right after the disasters, acting in
an altruist manner and lending its services to the State in the cases of a
national emergency. It would also be very positive if they could contribute with
a substantial amount of their profits to reduce the level of damage caused by
the catastrophes, because many of the business companies that have increased
their profits in the last years, have managed to do so at the expense of the
damage against the environment.
Tel: +503-210-6600 ext. 407, Fax: +503-210-6655 |