Bolivia: IOM builds model camps after floods displace 68,000 families
Analysis:
“Continued rains and meteorological predictions calling for more rain in the coming weeks, will mean even more water in the already saturated lower river basins of Guayaramerin and Riberalta. This will mean that another 46 communities and 1,936 families will be added to the 58,000 that have been forced to leave their homes. The department of Beni has been the hardest hit. These ominous predictions have prompted the central Government to call on local authorities, IOM, UN agencies and NGOs to begin building a camp for 2,500 vulnerable persons. We may be facing adverse hygiene conditions, a shortage of potable water and food, and even epidemics. These persons needs humanitarian assistance to mitigate the impact of these floods.”
Walter Gustavo Arce Sánchez
Chief of Mission IOM
Bolivia/Argentina - Weeks of torrential rains that caused widespread flooding in low-lying areas of Bolivia have left more than 60 dead and some 68,000 families homeless in 130 municipalities.
IOM Bolivia, working with the Government and with funding from the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development (AECID), is building model camps to shelter families who lost their homes.
“IOM is working with its Government partners to turn makeshift settlements into model tent camps that will provide proper shelter for families evacuated from their homes,” said Walter Arce, IOM Chief of Mission in Bolivia.
In the municipality of Trinidad, one of the hardest hit areas, IOM and its local and central government partners, as well as the private sector, have set up a model camp with 250 family-size tents. A second camp, with 500 family-size tents in the neighboring city of Guayaramerín, is nearly complete.
IOM provided training for the military who were tasked to set up the tents, and provided all necessary material to bring electricity to the camps.
IOM also worked alongside its NGO partner Action Against Hunger, in charge of providing water and sanitation services to the camps. IOM provided transportation for children in the camp to attend school.
For more information, please contact
Walter Arce
IOM Bolivia
Tel: + 591-2-2369044
Email: warce@iom.int; iomlapaz@iom.int
or
Magdalena Mactas
IOM Buenos Aires
Tel: +54(9) 1167356160
Email: mmactas@iom.int.