Preventive Resettlement of Populations at Risk of Disaster - GFDRR

that have occurred in that place from ancestral times.
(CONRED, 2006)
The name Panabaj indicates the ancestral inhabitants
were well aware of the risks it presented.
The name of the Tz’anchaj district derives from the
words T´zan´, which is translated as the tip (or end) and
chaj, or pine tree. Together, these words are construed
to mean “at the end of the village there are many pine
trees,” suggesting that the name of the district derives
from the forest of pine trees and other trees that once
abounded in that area. (CONRED, 2006)
The 2006 CONRED study stresses the importance to
the indigenous people of their spiritual guides (aj´kij),
whom they highly respect and credit with knowing the
cosmogony and spiritual heritage of the Tz´utujil people.
They are also considered intermediaries between
nature and the spiritual and human worlds.
Among the most important spiritual features are the
institution of the Rilajmam (the Old Grandfather), the
guild system, and the powers ascribed to ceremonial
places, such as Lake Atitlán, volcanoes and the hills surrounding
the municipality.
The extended family is patrilineal or male-dominated,
especially with regard to domestic economic decisions.
Another distinguishing feature is that grandparents,
adult children and grandchildren usually live together
in the same house, which creates greater integration
among family members and guarantees continuity in
cultural patterns.
Previous disasters in the region
The 2006 CONRED study also mentions that the Panabaj
and Tz’anchaj districts have experienced disasters
throughout time. Historical references, hydrometeorological
analyses, studies of stratigraphic profiles and interviews
with the elderly in the districts and municipality
of Santiago Atitlán confirm at least three disasters of
a similar nature in the past 100 years, all associated with
heavy rainy seasons accompanied by storms and hurricanes
and always in October or the first half of November.
The first, though not well identified disaster, was
between 1910 and 1920, the second was in 1949, and
the worst of the three was in the mid-twentieth century,
which caused an avalanche and a series of landslides.
In addition to natural disasters, the region experienced
an extended period armed conflict in which clashes often
affected the civilian population more severely than
the combatants. Indeed, the population was harassed
both by the military and armed insurgents.
Following the murder of 13 people in Santiago Atitlán in
December 1990 by soldiers assigned to the military outpost
in the Panabaj district, the population petitioned
the Government to immediately withdraw the troops,
which it did. The local population still remembers the
event and their rejection of the security forces. As a result,
that distrust of the military and the Government is
rekindled even in humanitarian crises, such as natural
disasters.
Chapter 6 The First Tz´utujil City of the Twenty-First Century | Guatemala |
93