Rescue Efforts still underway after Colombian Landslide

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Early Sunday Morning

Residents of Mocoa, Putumayo Province in Colombia woke up to a catastrophic downpour.

Late Saturday evening, President Juan Santos had issued a state of emergency due to the predicted rainfall of the area. Santos had said in his statement to the public that the rains were expected to fall around midnight that night.

One resident told NBC News that though they had heard the broadcast, not all of them were able to escape in time. “The bridges and some of the streets were already flooded by 1 a.m., so there was nowhere to go,” the source said.

Indeed, many residents of Mocoa told the same tale. One man described how he and his family had woken up to desperate knocks of his neighbors. Disoriented, he had opened the door when he noticed the torrents going by his house. “There was no place for us to go,” Eduardo Vargas, the survivor, said, “so we all climbed the mountain and watched the muddy water rush by carrying rocks, trees, and even houses.”

The mudslide had been triggered by the heavy downpour in the area. Because the terrain in Mocoa is mountainous, the speed and power of the water were augmented so that it had enough energy to uproot trees and destroy bridges. Vargas said he and his companions even watched as cars and planks flew by them.

Later in the day

Over 1,100 police and soldiers were deployed to the area to aid in rescue missions. The Colombian Red Cross also helped set up camps for the survivors. Colombian Red Cross spokesman Oscar Ferero stated, “We are also helping reunite the survivors with their loved ones.” The Red Cross confirmed that about 200 people were still missing and over 400 others were injured. The number of fatalities has not been released because rescue missions are still underway. President Santos warned against speculating on the number of casualties and instead concentrating efforts on finding other survivors. He added, “We are doing everything possible to locate survivors. It breaks my heart to see the devastation the mudslide has caused.”

For many like Vargas and his family, Sunday has been a lucky day. Vargas reported that he was able to reunite with more of his family in the survivors’ camp. Many others, however, have not been as fortunate and still continue to look for their loved ones. Some residents stated that they could not do so after dark but will join in rescue missions once the new day begins.

Meanwhile, in nearby towns, hospitals are flooding with patients as the military airlifts the injured into them. One Dr. Herman Grananados said, “We have so patients coming in from that region such that our blood banks are not going to be enough to treat all of them.” The military air force is also searching for any other bodies from the air as well as shepherding food and medical supplies from nearby towns to the Mocoa survivor camps.

This mudslide is one of the nation’s worst, after the 1985 landslide that left over 20,000 people dead.