Cajamarca, Colombia Faces River Undermining Threat; Mayor Calls for National Aid

Mayor Camilo Valencia warned that the undermining of the river beneath the Cajamarca plateau endangers the entire municipality. He announced that the local government will provide three months of rent subsidies for families forced to evacuate, and asked the national government for urgent financial assistance to finance relocation and stabilization work.

The National Unit for Disaster Risk Management will coordinate additional economic aid for the displaced. The landslide has already damaged urban infrastructure and exposed an 80‑meter high slope, prompting traffic on the Ibagué‑Calarcá corridor to be limited to a single lane. Preliminary estimates place the cost of relocating affected communities between $2 billion and $3 billion, a sum the municipality cannot cover on its own.