Dear readers of this prestigious platform, taking into account the topic to be developed, I would like to point out the importance of highlighting certain risks or threats that some communities may face today, due to the heavy rains and the different climatic changes that our planet suffers, and the sedimentation of several rivers in the world..
INTRODUCTION
The lack of rainfall directly affects crops, since due to the lack of water, crops dry up and die, mainly in low-income regions and countries, and this affects the economy, the lack of food, bringing malnutrition and diseases derived from the situation. But this time we will not talk about drought, on the contrary, we will inquire about the risks that can cause threats in the populations because of nearby rivers and their overflowing with the arrival of rainfall.
It is important to emphasize that it is important to know what we are facing when we talk about a threat, which refers to an event that has not yet occurred but that is developing an alert to produce damage, taking with it the risks that it may cause, such as disasters, which usually have an impact on the environment. In the same way, the main damages occur in the most vulnerable areas predisposing and negatively affecting the threat that has occurred.
In this opportunity I refer to the neglect by governmental entities with the retaining walls or it could be said to allow the population to inhabit places that are too close to rivers or streams, which undoubtedly in the short or long term end up affecting society, threatening the lives of people, their economic production, crops, livestock and many other aspects to be considered.
Video
Threat from rivers
It is important to mention that this is the Catatumbo river belonging to the State of Zulia, where the waters of the Zulia and Tarra rivers flow into the river, which are known for their violent currents and affluent waste that drags at high speed, destroying everything they get in their path, it is for this reason that I refer to a peasant population that for years has been founded in a town near the river, exposing itself considerably to this latent danger.
¿ How many inhabitants would be affected by the overflowing of the Catatumbo river?
I want to emphasize a populated sector of approximately 1300 inhabitants including children, adults and senior citizens, 280 families and approximately 200 homes who are being affected by a major threat that is located a few meters from the population and whose only barrier is a retaining wall that so far this year has required maintenance twice, due to heavy rains that have occurred and the great sedimentation that shows the river..
¿ What is vulnerability?
It is the low capacity of response and resistance when a threatening phenomenon is shown, that is to say, that this community is vulnerable to the latent danger to which it is exposed, in the same way it should be noted that at present the river has a large increase in its waters, caused by heavy rains, being this something that we cannot control as it is something that depends solely on nature, and that current forecasts show us that even the rains will continue to fall..
This population has a school, sports fields, small and medium-sized warehouses that supply the community with basic necessities, although from one point of view we can clearly see the danger they are in, for them this is their home and it is not an option to leave it, even if this seems to be a great solution to the threat..
Foto de pampanito donde se vea la escuela y la cancha
However, although it may seem that relocating them is the solution, this is not the case, since a devastating overflow would affect other adjacent sectors in the same way, with the difference that the catastrophe would be greater since they have a greater population capacity, so it is more effective to incorporate breakwaters with their respective meshes that would help prevent the overflow and it would also be necessary to dredge the area to collect the sediment and restore the retaining wall with this material.
Final contribution
It is important to emphasize that we are talking about the lives of thousands of people, who would be affected economically by personal and material losses, emotionally by the trauma and psychological shop that could cause in some and physically as there could be countless victims who could lose their lives, but we live in a world where we wait so long to act that when we do it is often too late and we can only assume the drastic consequences.