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The Colombian authorities Tuesday issued a state of emergency in four towns of the department of Antioquia in the northwest of the country after renewed risks of landslides and tremors threatening the region where country's largest hydroelectric dam project is underway.
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Tremors felt over the past few days have sparked fears over the geological stability of the mountains between which the dam wall has been built. Public Companies of Medellin group (EPM), which responsible for the project owned by the Medellin city government, evacuated all 1,500 workers from the site on Tuesday, effectively shutting down the project for the second time in a month.
The US$4 billion Ituango hydroelectric dam project has been halted with the towns of Puerto Valdivia and Puerto Antioquia, as well as the municipalities of Cáceres and Tarazá, placed under an emergency.
Jorge Londoño, general manager of the EPM group, told EFE that they detected new tremors and announced "red alert, not only in Puerto Valdivia but also in the municipalities of Tarazá and Cáceres as a preventive measure, seeking the protection of people below the dam."
Adding that they did not have an "ability to predict" if the tremors will be "relatively small or could affect the infrastructure of the project," so they decided to issue an emergency as a precautionary measure.
The tremors detected during the early hours of May 7 led to some damage to structures in the area where the power plant is being built. It also caused "a total blockage in the tunnel" that diverts the Cauca River, the second largest tributary channel in the country, during the works.
Meanwhile a landslide Saturday forced the hydroelectric workers to evacuate, who until then were focused on raising the level of the dam to 415 meters and filling the slabs with concrete.
If the dam breaks or parts of the mountain give in, it could cause one of the worst disasters in Colombia’s history releasing a 26-meter wave that could destroy everything while forcing a way through the Cauca river valley to the Caribbean Sea.
The National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD) also said in a statement that until a thorough investigation is completed, it was important to take the preventive measures.
According to Colombia Reports, Medellin government is likely to suffer major setbacks as a consequence.
In an interview with local newspaper El Colombiano, Finance Secretary Orlando Uribe said revenue from the public company contributed US$414 million, almost a quarter of Medellin’s annual budget, to the municipal treasury this year. According to Colombia Reports, Londoño said that they may resume the work sometime during the first week of June after the conditions become feasible.
Environmental activists have opposed the dam since it was first approved back in 2009 for causing volatility to the environment and disrupting people's lives. Campaigners have feared the Ituango dam will destroy fishing and farming communities.
"Communities are losing their way of life," Isabel Cristina Zuleta, a local environmental activist from the Rios Vivos Movement ('Living Rivers') that opposed the dam, told the Guardian. "There's no humanitarian assistance here, it's total abandonment – there's no shelters, no food, no anything."
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