Estimates

SPOTLIGHTCOLOMBIAThe long road to relocationfor Gramalote’s IDPsIn 2010 and 2011, a particularly intense iterationof La Niña, the cooling of the PacificOcean’s surface, caused heavy rainfallthroughout the Andes and intense floodingand landslides in Colombia. Amongthe many places severely affected, thenorth-eastern town of Gramalote in themountains of Norte de Santander departmentwas all but levelled by a landslide.All 2,900 Gramaloteros were evacuatedbefore the disaster struck, and four-anda-halfyears later they remain displaced.Most moved to the city of Cúcuta, 45 kilometresaway. 89Colombia has managed many relocationprocesses in preparation for, and inresponse to the onset of natural hazards,but Gramalote was unique in terms of theextent of the destruction it suffered, andthe fact that the landslide took placewhile the country as a whole was in thethroes of a disaster.The events of 2010 and 2011 shapedthe country’s response and set it on tracktowards better preparedness in the future.The systems put in place were developedwith a long-term view to mitigatingand managing risk, including the FondoAdaptación, or Adaptation Fund - an institutionwith budgetary and administrativeautonomy and a strong technical focus.Creating a new institution from scratchin the aftermath of a large-scale disasterwas no easy task, however, and it took 18months to get the fund up and running asa functioning entity.The delay set back the Gramaloteros’efforts to bring their displacement to anend, and they are still to achieve a durablesolution. Their cultural attachment to theirtown and land remains strong, however,and translates into a yearning for return.They feel the town is not just their place ofresidence, but a defining feature of whothey are. 90Around 35 families have returned to anarea of Gramalote that was not destroyedby the landslide, but it is considered unsafeand they have done so at their ownrisk and without official support. Otherfamilies have resettled in another areaon the outskirts of the town, through aprocess facilitated by the Catholic church.The Gramaloteros continue to receivehousing rental support in the form of cashand in-kind contributions of food items– they are the only community affectedby the disasters of 2010 and 2011 to doso – but the Adaptation Fund and localauthorities have moved at a snail’s pacein helping them find a permanent solutionto their displacement.Once the fund was up and running, itproved difficult to find a nearby site suitablefor the construction of a new town.Technical assessments were conductedand came close to identifying two locations,but they were ultimately dismissedas neither safe nor viable. The site finallychosen is located, as was Gramalote,on an Andean mountainside, meaningthat there is little infrastructure in placeto service a new town. New electricity,telecommunications, water and sanitationinstallations will be needed, alongwith access roads, housing, schools andpublic spaces.In May 2015, the Adaptation Fundpublished a comprehensive developmentand relocation plan for Gramalote, witha budget of $93 million to build the newtown and its associated infrastructure.Its timeframe includes the Gramaloteros’relocation by the end of the year, an ambitioustarget considering the extent of thepublic works required. 91That said, it must be hoped that implementationof the new plan will not takeas long as its development, so that theGramaloteros can at last re-establish theirlives and their identity in a permanent newhome.5 | Mind your assumptions: Protracted displacement following disasters61