Deputy Lorena Fries, a Broad Front member representing district 10, sent formal requests to the executive branch and other state agencies on Wednesday. She seeks to clarify what went wrong during the weather fronts that hit the Metropolitan Region in October.
According to BioBioChile, the requests were sent to nine institutions: the Ministry of the Interior, the National Disaster Prevention and Response Service (Senapred), the Ministries of Public Works, Housing and Urban Development, and Energy, the Undersecretariat of Telecommunications, the Superintendency of Electricity and Fuels (SEC), the Superintendency of Sanitary Services and the Metropolitan Regional Presidential Delegation.
"I considered it necessary to send formal requests to various state agencies to clarify what went wrong so that responsibility can then be established and what is not working can be corrected," the lawmaker said.
The request follows two incidents. On Thursday, October 8, storms caused a mudslide in Las Condes. On Tuesday the 13th, Santiago, Providencia, Ñuñoa, Macul, La Granja and San Joaquín suffered severe impacts. All those municipalities are part of Fries's district.
The deputy focused on the warnings issued by technical agencies before each emergency. "The weather warnings were known, so the authorities must explain what measures they took and why they were insufficient," she said. She added that the available records show that "even people's lives were at risk".
According to Fries, if the authorities failed to anticipate the consequences, "they must at least answer for the failures in warning and prevention systems and in mitigation plans".
The requests seek information on five points, according to each agency's remit. The first concerns prevention and preparedness measures. The second concerns the emergency response and the restoration of basic services and damaged infrastructure.
The third addresses coordination between public agencies and concessionaires or service providers, such as electricity and water utilities. The fourth concerns assistance for groups requiring special protection: people dependent on electrically powered medical equipment, older adults, people with disabilities and people experiencing homelessness.
The fifth point calls for an assessment of the actions taken, lessons learned and planned improvements. The sources do not specify how long the agencies will have to respond.
Meanwhile, the government has already set out its position on funding. Undersecretary of the Interior Pavez ruled out using the constitutional 2% provision for emergencies and said regional governments can allocate resources from their own budgets, a mechanism authorized in July.
