Colombia Declares Tolima Fires a Public Calamity and Hunts the Arsonists
COLOMBIA · ENVIRONMENT Key Facts —What happened: President De la Espriella declared a public calamity over the Tolima fires, with more than 50,000 hectares burned. —How big: About 28,000 of the burned hectares are farmland, and 2,660 producers have lost crops or livelihoods. —The catch: The government says the Tolima fires were set deliberately, by […] The post Colombia Declares Tolima Fires a…
Colombia has declared a public calamity in the Tolima department due to wildfires that have scorched over 50,000 hectares of land, with more than 28,000 hectares being farmland. President Abelardo de la Espriella declared the disaster on Thursday, 27 August, at Ibagué, the capital of Tolima. The government claims the fires were started deliberately by criminal groups, rather than by natural causes.
A reward of up to 50 million pesos (approximately US$16,000) is offered for information leading to the capture of those responsible for the arson. An elite police and military unit will be formed to hunt down the arsonists. The Tolima fires come on the heels of a 7.4-magnitude earthquake that killed 331 people on August 10, and injured 4,439 others.
The combined disaster response is straining the country's resources, but Colombia is still working to recover from the earthquake, which affected more than 361,000 people across 16 departments.
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