María José Torres (Resident Coordinator) on the earthquake in Colombia - Press Conference

All right.
On that note, I could put our guest on the screen.
Maria Jose, can you hear us? Yes.
Good morning.
Good morning, good afternoon.
Thank you so much for joining us.
As you all know, Maria Jose is the resident coordinator from Colombia.
You're here to give us an update, so please give us an update and then we'll take some questions.
Thank you.
Fantastic.
Thanks so much, Stefan, for having us, Colombia, on the briefing.
I just wanted to very quickly express our solidarity with the colleagues of Nepal, as well as the people of Nepal.
We have seen with the impact of natural disasters once again in a very vulnerable community, which is the case also of the impact of the earthquake in Colombia.
We had an earthquake that historically has been one of the biggest in Colombia, if not the bigger one affecting 16 departments.
I think this is an evolving data that is increasing the number of departments that are practically half of the country, a 96,000 families affected.
And 331 reported that.
I think good news and that relates to my first briefing is that the search and rescue teams were able to rescue 364 people, which I think it is a highlight in this very tragic event.
Obviously, we are talking about homes damaged and destroyed buildings, but also livelihoods and health centers.
Male hospitals in areas that are very vulnerable are currently unerable as well as almost 4,000 educational facilities.
In terms of what the UN team and the humanitarian community has done since we spoke last week, ten days after the earthquake, we launched an updated humanitarian plan that includes 1.2 million people in need.
We need to recall maybe that Colombia has an existing humanitarian situation that continues to be ongoing and we have hyper prioritized 127,000 that really looks into those people most affected by the earthquake.
I'm very proud to report that our humanitarian country team, particularly thanks to the ability to respond immediately on the ground based in two teams, one based in Toko, the other one based in Bad Al Ka, Cali, we have been able to reach 70,000 people in the most pressing needs of emergency shelter, health, emergency education, water sanitation, and agencies such as IOM, UNHRWFP UNICEF, doing Women, UNFPA, and WHO PAHO have been working in a response that I have to say because I'm today in po, T has been extremely well coordinated.
So first thing to mention is that there has been a very fluid communication and leadership by the national authorities.
So the National Unit for disaster risk reduction has been immediately on the go and on the lead of the emergency.
And as humanitarian community and international community based in Colombia, we have received we have had constant communication with the Foreign Affairs Minister.
Yesterday, we had a formal meeting reporting advances on the ground I had the chance to visit also our team in Valla del Cauca last week.
Today, I'm in a visit also with WFP, the regional director and the national representative, as well as OCHA head of office.
And the whole point is also to see how we can continue supporting teams on the ground.
We have had response by these two ELC and search capacity in other two departments in the Ferro.
And at the same time, I'd like to mention something that I think Colombia has learned many lessons from the past.
We have immediately activated our early recovery working group led by UNDP, and UNDP is coordinating an assessment using the last technological advances, including satellite imaginry as well as coordination with the IFIs to make sure that the assessment of damages, including economic damages informs the response.
If I may, Stephanie, just to end this part, and then we can see questions coming.
We have had a tremendous response so far, and I would like to praise, particularly Colombians, both private sector, people to people.
We have seen an immense response in terms of solidarity.
One intangible of this response has been that a sense of unity has emerged also in terms of what people want to do for those affected.
But also to remind everybody that those areas most affected are those areas most vulnerable and the pre existing armed conflict are, for instance, creating some challenges in terms of continuing with this dual work of emergency response, as well as early recovery and reconstruction.
First, we don't have information about all the situations or the needs that some communities are enduring because they are very hard to reach.
This is particularly something that my colleagues in Choco and in Vala del Calco have stressed us that we need to continue making efforts to give that information.
Mostly is affecting Afro, Colombian, and indigenous communities on the ground.
Second issue I would imagine it's that we really need to reveal very quickly.
Including the ability of children to be back into a protective educational environment.
Particularly in the areas that we are working in Choco and Vala del Cauca, there is presence of the illegal armed groups and recruitment of children in Colombia is a pre existing issue.
We are concerned that the situation of children out of school can exacerbate the situation.
And the last challenge and I end here, it is also how we are able to not just support at the central level that has been fantastic.
I just two days ago, we had a meeting led by the vice president of the international community, but also how we channel that support and capacity to the local authorities that are the first line of response because the capacities on the ground sometimes are difficult, they are overwhelmed, and as UN team we are doing as much as we can to accompany and support, but more is needed.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mary Jose.
We'll start with the Associated Press Edi.
Thank you very much on behalf of the United Nations Correspondent Association for doing this briefing.
My name is Edith Lettera, as Steph said, from the Associated Press.
A couple of follow ups.
First, can you tell us about the financial situation.
How much does Colombia need? How much have you received? And secondly, what are the most pressing needs today from the international community? Thank you.
Thank you.
Go ahead, Maria Jose.
Thank you for these very important questions.
We updated the humanitarian response plan and we need $148 million to respond to the emergency.
We have received 35 million by international donors plus $5 million from the SERF that was immediately activated by Tom Fletcher as ERC, and that was day two of the emergency and we are already working on the response habilitated by the SEF.
That has been very quickly, but you can see that it's more or less 40% of total needs.
On pressing needs and thanks for that question, obviously shelter an emergency shelter is a big issue.
Because we are talking about populations that are, in most cases, living in very vulnerable context, sometimes illegal settlements that require also urban planning to do a bit of a build back better, if you want to, and not to reproduce vulnerability.
These are communities also that are very much affected by climate change.
I mean, you might have seen also that Colombia simultaneously is enduring wildfires in Tolema, for instance.
So this is something that is concurrently to the current situation.
So emergency shelter and solutions for shelter, livelihoods and emergency health and education.
When you talk about emergency shelter, are you talking mainly about tents or some kind of a more durable shelter? I think in the context of Colombia, tents are not part of the response, and I think has been used very seldomly.
So I think it is more about a bit more of a durable solution.
So rental subsidies and also there are some bank of materials have been put at the service of the different communities.
This is something that has been announced.
It has to start in the communities so people can do some self construction But one of my points, Ida was it is very important to also provide support to the municipalities, so there is a bit of urban planning and we don't reproduce vulnerability and hence creating another disaster soon.
Thank you so much, Maria.
Do we have any other questions in the room? Gabriel, please go ahead.
Hello, Maria.
This is Gabriel sono from Al Jaeera English.
I just have two questions, if you don't mind.
One is, the new president of Colombia was inaugurated, as you know, on August 7th.
This catastrophe hit literally 48 hours after he was inaugurated.
I'm not asking you to judge the government's work by any means.
I know that's not your job, but can you just explain how is the UN's interaction with the new government? Have there been any gaps given that this catastrophe took place so quickly after the new government took office? Have there been any challenges along those lines? Then my second question is, the region where this earthquakes hit, as you know, is one of the most economically depressed regions of all of Colombia.
How has that impacted how you are going about moving past the immediate response to a more long term response.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
As you mentioned, I think the response to an earthquake of this impact would be challenging for any government, but if you are starting your tenure with this, it was extremely challenging, I think.
But I'm just going to mention our interaction with the government that I think is what I can really report on.
Well, first.
Very open, very fluid from day one.
We were in touch and part of the emergency the emergency setup that the government created under the leadership of the National Risk Unit.
And this has been a constant communication, including at the highest level.
Vice President, the foreign affairs minister in my case, as well as the head of the unit.
They have participated in some of our own coordination spaces with the international community.
So on that account, I think it has been very prompt, very important.
The reason why I believe this could happen was well certainly leadership, but also the systems that exist in Colombia.
That are even established by law, that had continued been working in the in the transfer from one government to the next.
And I really want to pay tribute also to the role of the local authorities because obviously, those who are the first responders are those on the ground and also to bring to the attention of everybody that in these remote areas, the local communities themselves, I mean, like the indigenous communities, the Afro Colombian communities, they have their own organizations that have been also part of the first responders.
As, just to come back to your question, we have been engaged at all levels, and I think it's part of the reason why we could go so fast in the response.
And I really want to underline our full presence to them sitting in the verification mission office is the only one that has more or less stable Internet here in Choco, And even though the mission has a different mandate, they have been also part and supporting the work that we have been doing.
Now, on your second question, a recovery, how fast we can go is critical.
I mean, we have been from day one with the part of the UN that has demanded the ability, the capacity, and as I was mentioning, my colleagues on the MDP, FAO, ELC, and then o, they have been really putting making an effort to bring to the table the assessments to get the priorities, but also to ensure that we do a coordinated effort.
Something quite specific of Colombia is the density of the private sector and how the private sector has been coming forward to link their responses that have been solidarity and emergency response to the actual livelihoods.
We are in discussions also with the global compact that have been extremely open.
We meaning the UN team, and obviously in liaison with the government.
We are clear that from now on the National Development Plan might have a very strong component on reconstruction.
Thank you so much.
Are there any more questions in the room or online? I don't see any, so I would like to thank you so much, miss Maria Jose Torres the UN Resident Court for Colombia.
Thank you.
Thanks, everybody.
Have a