Preventive Resettlement of Populations at Risk of Disaster - GFDRR

Preparing for the resettlement
During the process, the CVP performed various activities
to help households resettle. These included
preparing family life plans—in which the beneficiaries
described their current living conditions, actions and
commitments for resettlement, enrollment of children
in schools, and preparations for buying their replacement
houses. Further, since most replacement houses
could be expanded or improved, the CVP provided
training on different types of construction, along with
information on procedures to obtain building permits.
Using the services of the local hospital and under the
umbrella of the basic sanitation and urban agriculture
project, the Health Secretariat offered day courses on
environmental sanitation, food security, household hygiene,
safe water, urban agriculture and family vegetable
gardens and orchards.
Environmental education
In coordination with DPAE, the District Environment
Secretariat (Secretaría Distrital de Ambiente) carried out
a pilot project for vulnerable segments of the population
in Nueva Esperanza to instruct them to serve as environmental
lookouts in the high-risk zone and surrounding
areas. A total of 135 people, from both the population to
be resettled and other neighbors, were selected, trained
in risk prevention and mitigation, and environmental
restoration, and certified. They included female heads
of households, people displaced by armed conflict, the
unemployed, and parents of families with numerous
children, who were paid for attending the courses and
for the activities they performed, and still work in the
area. Also, workshops and activities were also held on
other environmental topics and reforestation days were
held for children.
Peaceful co-existence
The CVP organized one-day “peaceful co-existence”
courses, which established rules of behavior for relating
to neighbors and the community, and for managing
public and private areas. The guidelines for harmonious
living are regarded as essential for preparing families for
resettlement and evolve into useful tools for helping households
integrate with the city and new neighborhood.
Restoring social services
The CVP coordinated with the Education Secretariat
(Secretaría de Educación) about the enrollment of resettled
children in their new neighborhood schools.
Disabled children were enrolled in special schools.
Further, the population was cross-checked against the
identification/classification System for Potential Beneficiaries
of Social Programs (Sistema de Identificación
y Clasificación de Potenciales Beneficiarios para Programas
Sociales, SISBEN) when the resettlement activities
were prepared, and children under four, along with the
disabled and elderly, were included in the District’s social
programs.
8. Rehabilitation and
Restoration of High-risk Lots
The goals of the rehabilitation plan were to restore environmentally
friendly conditions on the at-risk land and
generate effective controls over new attempts to occupy
lots. The plan involved incorporating the lots into the
Entre Nubes District Ecological Park (PEDEN), one of
the city’s ecological structures.
Once the resettled families turned over their original
properties and signed documents to this effect, the CVP
referred the records to DPAE, which handled the demarcation
and rehabilitation, and to the local mayor’s office,
to ensure that controls would be in place to prevent new
settlements. According to the CVP’s report on the status
of 1,197 properties, 1,170 were demolished and the land
restored, as of March 2010. The environmental lookouts
participated in the work.
The process involved fencing off the areas, demolishing
houses, collecting debris (1,014 tons of solid waste were
collected during this time), preparing the soil for planting
trees and shrubs (12,643 trees and 952 plants), restoring
the surface soil on slopes, and recovering 5,583
meters of rainwater and sewage.
9. Post-resettlement Stage
The post-resettlement stage, managed by the CVP, was
aimed at monitoring and following up the resettled
population, ensuring that good quality of life conditions
78 Preventive Resettlement of Populations at Risk of Disaster: Experiences from Latin America