Cinchona Earthquake Nightmare Continues

On January 8, 2009, a 6.1 earthquake devastated the area known a Cinchona, northwest of San José. The earthquake was felt all over Costa Rica as well as in southern central Nicaragua, taking 34 lives, including  three children and left about 64 people missing.



Most of the victims died when a landslide occurred near the La Paz waterfall by the Poás Volcano, and 452 people including 369 tourists were evacuated from the area in helicopters. 1,244 people were displaced in the immediate aftermath. In addition, a hotel, houses, roads, and vehicles were damaged, and several bridges were also destroyed. The town of Cinchona was heavily hit, and all of the buildings there were heavily damaged.

Two years later, in May 2009, the government made the official presentation of the 91 houses for survivors, thus ending the nightmare of families and starting their dream of new lives.

But it seems the aftershocks of this mortal earthquake have come again to the new Cinchona, the new houses a year later have begun showing signs of serious flaws and problems.

It's not just the houses. Also damage is surging to the remaining infrastructure.

This is evidenced by a work tender by the Comisión Nacional de Emergencias (CNE) - national emergency commission - this week.

The same tender documents calls for work to be done on many of the ceilings and walls of the homes, where water seepage is affecting the electrical systems, which can be dangerous for the people living in the houses. Other problems include black mould.

The CNE is undertaking a complete inspection of all the houses and says it must build a bitch to drain off rainwater.

The housing problems at Cinchona started even before the houses were built, with reports of overpayment for the construction and the purchase of the lots, land that is not suitable for a housing project.

The CNE has always defended the project, waving off any hits of corruption and mismanagement.

Each of the houses cost the government ¢55 million colones, almost ten times that of social housing budgeted by the CNE for such emergencies.

The CNE justified the overspending before the Comisión de Ingreso y Gasto Público de la Asamblea Legislativa (Legislative Committee on Public Income and Expenditure). The CNE chief, Vanessa Rosales never showed concern despite reports that the project was not suitable.

The soil study done five months after the purchase of the land showed that the 80 hectares farm was not suitable for housing construction.

The soil study report indicated that the ground was soft and with abundant moisture, with led to additional construction costs.

The justifications given by Rosales was that the homes were not part of any "social housing" program.