Could Otto’s consequences in Upala have been avoided? A Report of the National University three years ago warned about the risk of flooding for this populations.
When asked about the issue, President Luis Guillermo Solís, accepted he knew about the report, but adds that
there are many studies of poor urban planning in the country.”
No action has been taken because it is not easy to take them,”
has said Solís for many years.
The president gave examples of communities such as Sixaola or Puriscal, where inhabitants refuse to leave the areas at risk.
For Solís,
sometimes they build in the middle of the river, it part of the reality… They follow roads without thinking about services, connectivity or security.”
According to the president,
three quarters of the population live in places where they should not be.”
The president acknowledges that they will have to take these issues into account, with the help of experts, for the reconstruction of Upala, after the hurricane.