The Tico Times Online Daily Page

Authorities Take Action to Prevent
Escazú Mudslide Catastrophe
By María Gabriela Díaz
Tico Times Staff
mgdiaz@ticotimes.net

A massive slab of mud – 20,000 cubic meters – will slide off its perch on the side of Cerro Pico Blanco, a mountain looming above the western suburb of Escazú, before the rainy season ends, experts say.

The landslide will do one of two things, according to Catalina Roldán, assistant to the Escazú mayor and member of the Escazú Emergency Committee: it will either fall gradually, without obstructing the Agres River, which runs though the communities of San Antonio and San Rafael de Escazú, or it will dam the river.

If the slides dam the river, water could accumulate and finally create an avalanche that might threaten various sectors of Escazú, particularly those that border the Agres, Roldán said.

Preparations for the worst-case scenario are already underway in the threatened communities.

As part of a prevention system recommended to the Escazú Municipality by the National Emergency Commission (CNE), members of these communities currently hold monthly meetings at communal spaces in their neighborhoods, such as the Church of San Rafael de Escazú, to elaborate emergency plans for each of the vulnerable sectors.

After each community concludes work on its emergency plan, the meetings will be spaced out into review sessions held every three months. So far, the majority of these communities have already elaborated maps identifying the location of main streets, alternate routes for evacuation and handicapped residents who might require assistance during an emergency, as well as listings of every participant family in the area with their contact information, Roldán said.

Based on the behavior exhibited by the river, the Escazú Emergency Committee, comprised of interested members of the community, Red Cross volunteers and the Escazú Municipality, remains hopeful.

“We are very optimistic; the intermittent rains we have had so far this year allow the riverbed to clear up,” Roldán said, adding that even so, the committee has not lost sight of the need to communicate the mudslide threat to the community.

“The objective (of the meetings) is for each community to understand what is happening and know what resources they can count on during an emergency. The course of action during an emergency has to be a practiced, automatic thing,” she told The Tico Times yesterday.

Please see Friday's print edition or the online pdf version of The Tico Times for the full story.