Acting President Rodriguez meets with Miyamoto CEO as government advances recovery plan.
On Thursday, Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodriguez held meetings to accelerate the construction of earthquake-resistant infrastructure and housing on suitable land. As part of the effort, she met with Japanese American structural engineer Hideki Miyamoto.
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The CEO of Miyamoto International is also chairman of California’s Alfred E. Alquist Seismic Safety Commission, which investigates earthquakes and recommends policies to reduce seismic risk. Their meeting was part of efforts to modernize public spaces and improve essential services such as water, electricity and transportation.
In recent days, Rodriguez announced the launch of a large-scale housing construction plan to address the needs of people most affected by the June 24 earthquakes. To that end, her administration is working with soil and subsurface experts to scientifically identify the optimal sites where new earthquake-resistant housing developments and cities will be built.
To implement the housing plan, Rodriguez formally invited domestic and foreign companies with extensive technical expertise in residential infrastructure.
Her administration is also implementing the “Venezuela Reborn” plan to assess the condition of homes that remained standing and certify whether they are fit for occupancy, a technical process that will help determine the repairs needed. Meanwhile, families displaced by the earthquakes are receiving comprehensive assistance at temporary camps.
“We have requested support from countries with a long history of seismic activity, such as Mexico, Japan and Chile. Our Foreign Affairs Ministry is coordinating international technical assistance for the new housing that we are going to build,” Rodriguez said.
“Venezuela is a seismic country, and for that reason the new housing and earthquake-resistant cities plan must incorporate new national and international protocols that will, in some way, enable us to respond to similar situations in the future,” she added.
UN Agencies Are Also Participating in the Reconstruction Efforts
Currently, the Venezuelan government is also coordinating actions with United Nations agencies to provide an immediate response to the housing emergency.
UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher reaffirmed the multilateral organization’s support for bringing prefabricated housing to Venezuela and accelerating the relocation of displaced families.
Fletcher observed the severity of the direct physical damage during an inspection in Playa Grande, one of the areas along the central coast most heavily affected by the seismic activity, and said the U.N. system is raising international funding to speed the implementation of these emergency structural solutions across the country.
He also emphasized the urgent need to ease the unilateral coercive measures imposed on Venezuela so they do not disrupt the flow of humanitarian aid or hinder the country’s plans to rebuild public infrastructure.
On Thursday, Acting President Rodriguez led a virtual working meeting with representatives from the country’s temporary camps to coordinate the comprehensive housing and basic services plan for affected families.
The Venezuelan government has 87 temporary camps open with the capacity to accommodate 23,396 people. Currently, 16,891 people are already receiving comprehensive assistance at camps located in Caracas and the states of La Guaira and Miranda.
teleSUR/ JF
Sources: Presidential Press – EFE
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