The Colombian government will allow hundreds of families left homeless after a strong earthquake to move temporarily into houses and country estates seized from drug traffickers, officials said on Tuesday.
”A review of the properties seized from drug trafficking is being completed so we can make them available for these families,” Social Welfare Minister Diego Palacios told local radio.
The quake, registering a powerful 6,7 on the Richter scale, hit early on Monday and had its epicentre in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the lightly populated, western province of Choco. Twelve people were injured and dozens of buildings were destroyed or severely damaged.
The idea to let the families live in the houses until their own homes or apartments are rebuilt came from President Alvaro Uribe, whose administration has seized more than $200-million-worth of drug traffickers’ assets in the past two years.
The most serious structural damage was in the south-western city of Cali, where five buildings, including high-rise apartments, were so damaged 280 families were forced to evacuate, Palacios said.
Cali, home to some of the world’s most powerful drug lords, is where many of the more than 1 000 properties seized from traffickers in the past two years are located.
The only death related to the tremor was that of a 52-year-old woman who had a heart attack moments after the quake. Her relatives said she died from fear.
Monday’s earthquake was higher on the Richter scale than a 1999 tremor in the Colombian city of Armenia that killed 1 170 people, but damage was limited because its epicentre was located in the Pacific Ocean. — Sapa-AP