President Luis Abinader ordered the immediate intervention of the affected areas in the municipality of Gaspar Hernández, after the intense rains caused the Joba River to overflow. During a tour of the impacted areas, the president spoke with residents and merchants to verify the damage and announced compensation for those who registered losses.
Abinader explained that several houses cannot be rebuilt because they are located in vulnerable areas, so their occupants will receive special assistance to relocate.
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“We don’t do anything by rebuilding a house in the same place if the tragedy can repeat itself in two years,” he expressed.
The Head of State also instructed the director of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (Indrhi), Olmedo Caba, to build a gabion wall to protect the communities from future floods, as well as to carry out upstream interventions and improvements in the storm drainage. The creation of a promenade to reinforce security in the area is also planned.
The president attributed the intensity of the rains to the effects of climate change, noting that the rainfall occurs in shorter periods and with greater force, a phenomenon that —he affirmed— obliges the Government to act quickly and focus on structural solutions.
He also reported that the State’s Economic Dining Halls maintain constant assistance to guarantee food to the affected families, while the quantification of damages is carried out to define the amounts destined for reconstruction and compensation.
Prior to the tour, Abinader led a meeting with national and municipal authorities to coordinate the response, after receiving reports of damage to Primary Care Centers and school infrastructure, whose immediate intervention was ordered.
