Preventive Resettlement of Populations at Risk of Disaster - GFDRR

Colombia’s hydrometeorological characteristics and human
settlement patterns facilitate flooding caused by
heavy rains. Four major floods, affecting large areas,
were recorded from 1972-2008. Colombia is also exposed
to the El Niño and La Niña phenomena, as well
as to other hazards such as hurricanes, storms and other
events related to climatic conditions, such as forest fires.
Floods are the most frequent events, but earthquakes
wreak the most havoc in terms of deaths and economic
losses. According National Emergency Relief and Prevention
System (Sistema Nacional de Atención y Prevención
de Desastres, SNPAD) data, there were 9,106 events,
58 percent of which were floods (Figure 5.2) from 1998-
2008; they affected nine million people and caused considerable
damage to houses, services and transportation
infrastructure (ERN, 2004).
Figure 5.2. Percentage Distribution of Natural Events in
Colombia (1998-2008)
Earthquakes 1.2%
Droughts 0.4%
Miscellaneous 4.5%
2. Disaster Risk Management
Colombia is exposed to geological, geomorphological
and hydrometeorological hazards. It is located in a
highly complex geologic zone due to the movements of
three tectonic plates that generate seismic and volcanic
activity. It also has 13 active volcanoes. These features
explain the occurrence of earthquakes and tsunamis,
for which records are available since 1557 (Office of
the Comptroller General of the Republic - Contraloría
General de la Nación, 2005). These show nine major
earthquakes in the Pacific and Andean regions, two
tsunamis on the southern Pacific Coast (one with a
magnitude of Mw 9.2), and several volcanic eruptions
followed by avalanches, like the one caused by the
melting of the Nevado del Ruiz in 1985. Earthquakes are
the principal natural hazard because nearly 86 percent of
the population is located in zones where seismic hazard
is medium-to-high (National Planning Department –
Departamento Nacional de Planeación, DNP, 2001).
The geo-morphological hazards are manifested as landslides.
Since 1983, a number of such events occurred,
five of them of considerable magnitude along the Andean
mountain range.
Forest fires 4.1%
Gales-storms 13.8%
Landslides-erosion
17%
Volcanic events 0.8%
Floods-avalanches
58.4%
Source: National Directorate for Prevention and Disaster Relief (Dirección
Nacional de Prevención y Atención de Desastres, DNPAD). Emergency relief
subtotals (percent) 1998-2008.
The frequency of the events varies in different geographic
regions. From 1998-2008, most landslides (83 percent)
and almost all (99.26 percent) forest fires occurred
in the Andean region. Floods, however, predominated
in the Caribbean and Pacific regions (43 percent).
Of all the disasters, five that occurred from 1983-1999
were of considerable magnitude, causing direct economic
losses from US$46 million - US$1.6 billion per
event, and reconstruction costs from US$15million -
US$857 million (Table 5.1).
60 Preventive Resettlement of Populations at Risk of Disaster: Experiences from Latin America