Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Landslide Risk Areas to be Stabilized

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

TEGUCIGALPA, Dec 12 2011 (IPS) - The city government of Tegucigalpa will allocate 12 million dollars to the stabilization of areas prone to landslides in the neighborhoods of El Berrinche and El Reparto. The costs will be covered by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, which has already conducted feasibility studies. In January 2012 a team of risk mitigation specialists will arrive in Honduras.

Ricardo Álvarez, the mayor of Tegucigalpa, told Tierramérica that the aim of these efforts is to make the capital "a less vulnerable city." The work will involve the removal of at least 750,000 cubic meters of sediment and the installation of gutters for the drainage of rainwater.

In El Reparto alone some 400,000 cubic meters of sediment will be removed. It is hoped that the initiative will allow the two neighborhoods to be taken off the list of over 200 unsafe neighborhoods in Tegucigalpa.