[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Pages 23225-23226]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          FLOODING IN COLOMBIA

  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I want to take a minute to call attention 
to a humanitarian disaster that has received only passing mention in 
the international press and which many Senators may be unaware of.
  On December 7, Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos declared a 
state of ``economic, social and ecologic emergency'' as a result of 
massive flooding which he called a ``public calamity.''

[[Page 23226]]

  Heavy rains over a period of months have caused landslides that have 
swept away homes and rivers to overflow their banks, and now large 
areas of the country are inundated with water. According to a December 
17 report by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian 
Affairs which is assisting the Colombian government, so far 2.1 million 
people have been affected by the flooding, 270 have died, 62 are 
missing, and more than 300,000 houses have been damaged or destroyed. 
Thousands of miles of roads have been obstructed, damaged or destroyed.
  Twenty-eight of the country's 32 departments, which comprise 61 
percent of the country, have been affected. President Santos said the 
number of homeless from the flooding could reach 2 million, and that 
``the tragedy the country is going through has no precedents in our 
history.'' What's worse, the rains are expected to continue through 
next June.
  I do not have to remind anyone here of our close relationship with 
Colombia. I also know Colombia has emergency response capabilities 
which may not exist in remote areas of other countries similarly 
affected by severe flooding or other natural disasters, such as 
Pakistan. I was pleased to learn that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 
has people in Colombia because the devastation is on a scale more 
massive than any developing country could deal with alone. There may 
also be other ways we can provide assistance.
  I also use this opportunity to note what appears to be the growing 
number and intensity of natural disasters around the world that are 
straining the international community's emergency response 
capabilities. While no single weather event can be definitively 
attributed to climate change, scientists have long predicted an 
increase in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events as a 
result of global warming. They also predict that as many as 200 million 
people could be displaced by natural disasters and climate change by 
2050. That would cause incalculable havoc for many countries.
  President Santos, who to his credit has been out in the countryside 
with people who have lost family members, homes and, in many cases, 
everything they own, said he canceled his trip to the U.N. Climate 
Change Conference in Cancun so he could deal with the devastation that 
climate change is causing in his own country. Pakistani government 
officials likewise blamed climate change for the massive floods there 
that have affected more than 20 million people over the past several 
months.
  Whatever the cause, and there isn't time today to discuss my views 
about the role that deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels play 
in global warming, the world's climate is unquestionably changing. And 
a disproportionate number of recent climate related disasters has 
occurred in the world's poorest countries where most people's lives 
depend on agriculture. They have seen their homes destroyed, crops 
drowned in water and buried in mud, and what few possessions they have 
swept away. Other countries have suffered years of drought, and water 
sources that have sustained life for centuries have dried up. In as 
little as 25 years, glaciers that millions of people and their 
livestock depend on for drinking water have shrunk to a fraction of 
their size.
  These issues are going to occupy our time and severely tax our 
resources for the foreseeable future, and we and other countries 
urgently need to develop plans to try to prevent and adapt to climate 
change and to respond when disaster strikes.
  I am encouraged that there is a new field of research specifically 
focused on better understanding, preventing and responding to large 
scale displacement of people as a result of climate change and natural 
disasters. Nongovernmental and international organizations are working 
to develop strategies to protect the world's most vulnerable people 
from this growing threat. We need to support this and work together.
  I commend President Santos who has not only helped to alert the world 
to a catastrophe that had previously gone largely unnoticed outside his 
country, but who has taken other important steps in his first months of 
office that have won the respect and support of the Colombian people. 
His efforts to diffuse tensions with Colombia's neighbors, to begin 
tackling head on the daunting economic, social and judicial challenges 
facing Colombia, and to appoint several top officials who have the 
necessary qualifications and integrity, are admirable.
  After a decade of Plan Colombia, U.S.-Colombia relations are entering 
a new phase. While there will likely continue to be issues about which 
we disagree, I look forward to working with President Santos and his 
government on a wide range of issues of mutual interest and concern.

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