The Government of Colombia announces that it is entering the response phase to the El Niño crisis

The Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development of Colombia, Susana Muhamad, indicated this Thursday that the country is entering the response phase to the crisis of the El Niño phenomenonwhich has caused a red alert for forest fires due to droughts.

At the end of a follow-up meeting called by the president Gustavo Petroin which the entire cabinet participated, the decision was made to install a National Crisis Room to monitor emergencies, as well as reinforce the community social network to deal with emergencies.

It was also agreed to forge alliances between firefighters and private aviation companies to reinforce aerial emergency care and a call was made to the departmental governors to follow up and monitor the situation.

“There are some departments that, according to the vulnerability analysis and many variables that intersect, are priorities initially (…) The departments of Magdalena, La Guajira, Cesar and Boyacá are departments that show special vulnerability“Detailed the minister, who announced that every Monday there will be a weekly report on the situation.

In this reaction phase, Muhamad trusted the work “articulated and joint” in order to reduce the effects of The boyHe also indicated that projections suggest that the phenomenon will last until April, but February is expected to be the most complicated, a month “especially critical”.

The Colombian authorities warned on Wednesday of a 390% increase in the number of municipalities on red alert for forest fires in the last five days, a phenomenon attributed to the dry season exacerbated by the El Niño phenomenon.

A total of 747 municipalities in the country are on alert due to the threat of fires, indicated the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development.

Boyacá, with 82 municipalities; Cundinamarca (78), Santander (65) and Meta (24) are the departments with the highest number of red alerts due to fireswhere there is monitoring of heat points.

“We are on red alert for forest fires in the national territory. Is he El Niño phenomenon aggravated by global warming. It may be the hottest year in human history around the world.“Petro warned on his social networks.