CRIPDES

U.S. - El Salvador Sister Cities

Report #5 A Valiant People?

Nearly a week has passed since the earthquake that rocked El Salvador and official numbers of quake victims have surpassed a million, nearly 15% of the population. With so much of the population directly affected, one wonders what is the best strategy for channeling emergency aid and longer term reconstruction efforts. As the
government showcases their new plan to decentralize aid, NGO’s and other civil society organizations struggle to create an alternative plan of reconstruction, that meets both emergency and long-term needs.

After receiving scores of criticism around COEN’s (The Committee for National Emergency) handling of the emergency and its ability to effectively distribute aid to the affected populations, the government changed its tune this Sunday and announced that aid would be decentralized. Francisco Flores, President of El Salvador,
announced his plan to transfer reconstruction funds directly to the 97 affected municipalities. Under this plan, "Operation Valiant People" each affected family will receive 1500 colones or $175 to aid in their reconstruction efforts.

While the decentralization of aid has been called for by NGOs, municipalities, and other social sectors from the beginning, Flores’ plan for aid distribution has been met with significant skepticism. Only hours after Flores announcement to give 1500 colones to each affected family through the municipal mayors offices, people began to flood the municipalities asking for their promised 1500 colones. In Armenia, the Mayors office has ecome an armed fortress, as the FMLN mayor and council tries to figure out how to meet the needs of the thousands of affected with the negligible amounts of funds given by the government in the plan "Valiant Pueblo." "What the President’s announcement has generated for me as mayor is social unrest, because everyone is asking me for their 1500 colones which I don’t have" commented Mayor Martha de Rodriguez.

Given the pure magnitude of the destruction caused by this earthquake, the numbers of dead, disappeared or injured, as well as numbers of destroyed homes continue to vacillate significantly even 10 days after the quake. "The destruction has been so widespread and has affected so many departments that is hard to get clear accurate
numbers from urban centers, and even harder to get accurate data from surrounding rural communities" explained a city councilman from La Libertad. Official sources continue to report much lower numbers of affected than communities and municipalities are reporting. These discrepancies in numbers have the potential of creating great social un-rest in communities as people clamor for their 1500 colones even as municipalities receive much lower levels of aid than expected. For example, mayors from the department of San Salvador insist that within their jurisdiction there are more than 7,000 uninhabitable houses, while official government numbers of destroyed housing total only 2,700 houses. Under Flores "Valiant Plan" the Municipalities will only receive funds for 2,700 families even as needs swell over 7, 000.

Mayors such as Santiago Nonualco of La Paz have publicly denounced the low level of government aid allocated to their municipalities. In an act of protest a women’s high heel shoe was hung in the
mayor’s office with an attached note reading "this shoe was donated by the Ministry of the Interior." Reading a list of donations given by COEN, Marta de Canales called COEN’s aid "nothing but a sick joke on those that have been affected by the earthquake." In addition to one silver shoe, the municipality with over 28 thousand quake victims, has received 3 pounds of salt, one pound of spaghetti, and 2 mattresses.

Exploring Alternatives

In synch with Flores announcement of the decentralization of aid, various Salvadoran NGO’s and other sectors of civil society, both groups and individuals, have publicly announced the "The Citizens Commission for Reconstruction and Transparency."

This commission, with representatives from The Lutheran Church, The Medical College, The Salvadoran Ecological Organization, The Women’s Association of Judges, The Association of Journalists in El Salvador, and the President of COMURES (the Cooperation of Municipalities in El Salvador) will work to:

     oversee with full transparency the use of emergency and
     reconstruction funds and resources, as well as provide oversight
     in the fundraising, reception and distribution of aid.

     establish mechanisms of coordination between municipalities,
     NGO’s, churches, and the communities

Members of this citizens commission understand that their work will extend much deeper than just advocating for the transparent distribution of aid to victims during this time of emergency. The commission aims to address as well the deep social and economic inequalities that continue to pervade the country. As occurred following
Hurricane Mitch, civil society groups like the Commission for Reconstruction and Transparency, are leading the way: working to not only resolve short terms needs of the population, but to build a model society based on greater equality of opportunity and a fairer division of social benefits – a development that really would make the Salvadoran people a valiant people.

In solidarity,

Erlinda Conrad and Cristina Damon