The 19 State ministers are 100% focused on management, coordination and emergency attendance duties to cope with rains and mudslides affecting different parts of the country, Interior Minister Carlos Basombrio affirmed.
Cabinet members have cancelled non-emergency-related activities, and their efforts are focused on providing aid and rehabilitating affected zones.
“The Government, as a whole, has cancelled activities that have nothing to do with the emergency. The 19 State ministers have left everything behind to work on it. Our force has been fully deployed,” Basombrio was quoted as saying by Andina news agency.
Police officers remain at their assigned zones, as previously required by the government, and 10 anti-drug helicopters will be brought from the rainforest to assist the population in Coastal areas.
“Our resources are in place. We know they are not enough, as nature is battering [the country] in a way no one could have foreseen, but we are going to do our best,” the government official underlined.
The scale of the disaster is such that involves at least eight regions across the country, so the Government will do its best to support municipal and regional authorities, who are the ones who should directly attend emergencies at their jurisdictions.
“Not all regional and municipal governments are taking action. In this sense, we appeal to some municipal authorities, which have kind of turned their backs on the situation facing their citizens,” he said.
After expressing solidarity with Peruvian nationals that lost everything, Basombrio went on to add the Government is working as quickly as possible to overcome this emergency situation.
(END) MVF/SMA/RMB
Published: 3/18/2017