At around 5:30 in the afternoon this Wednesday, two days after a magnitude 7.4 earthquake shook Colombia, the newly sworn-in president, Abelardo de la Espriella, announced that he will declare a state of economic emergency to face the tragedy. In his first press conference since taking office the previous Friday, in which he did not allow questions, he explained that given this constitutional state of exception, he will launch “economic reactivation measures” for the affected area in the western part of the country.
The president made the announcement after updating the figures of the impact, which reach 265 dead, 496 missing, 3,494 injured, and 25,872 affected families. “The emergency I propose will create a Miracle Fund, an entity that will channel national and international support,” he said.
The president recalled that he receives the nation’s finances amid a fiscal crisis, but that will not stop him from making financial efforts aimed at the most affected areas: he mentioned the payment of public services for the affected families, rental subsidies, tax and financial relief, support for affected merchants, and economic aid for the most vulnerable families. “The emergency should include economic reactivation measures,” he added to generate employment opportunities again.
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This mirrors what happened in 1999, when another earthquake devastated the same region, leaving more than 1,000 dead, and then-president, conservative Andrés Pastrana, decreed the same state that allows issuing decrees with the force of law. On that occasion, he created the Fund for the Reconstruction and Social Development of the Coffee Axis or FOREC, which channeled a total of 1.59 trillion pesos of the time (about 750 million dollars or 5.2 trillion current pesos), intervened, repaired, or built more than 136,000 homes, relocated 10,000 families, and was fundamental in relaunching the region.
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