State of emergency in rain damaged areas

A “STATE of emergency” has been declared  in Juan Diaz and Belisario Porras, recently devastated by floods and landslides.

The Cabinet has also instructed the Ministries of Health, Public Works, Housing and the National Civil Protection System to make direct contracts of $10 million to address the emergency.

The Ministry of Public Works is continuing with the clean-up and dredging at various points affected in Juan Diaz.

Juan Diaz residents and environmental organizations have previously questioned the cutting of mangroves in the area in order to allow for landfill and building  construction.

The president of the Panamanian Society of Engineers and Architects, José Batista, said that a comprehensive evaluation of all the districts of Panama City against the rains is needed.  That would mean, creating  computer simulations of flooding in order to identify risk points.

Ulises Lay, former president of the society also recommended doing hydrologic and hydraulic studies on how water should be managed.