Alan Grundy's blog

In November, the Mayor's Office of Barranquilla requested Mercy Corps' support with a humanitarian response to the neighborhood of El Bosque that was affected by a landslide that brought down more than 300 households. We were quick to respond, leveraging funds from our Portland Headquarters and matching those funds with the Mayor's Office.

With £36,000 we did miracles. A team was formed with a field coordinator, two social workers and two community leaders. A community-lead diagnostic provided essential information to respond to the urgent needs of those affected.

The team created an emergency plan that integrated the distribution of emergency kits, along with a psychosocial programme for children and women head-of-households, and a community mobilization effort that strengthened local leaders in their interaction with authorities on the topic of relocation from high-risk areas. This one-month response had an emphasis on speed and cost-effectiveness, with amazing results.

The southern portion of the Department of the Atlantico (the area where Barranquilla is located) was flooded last Wednesday, December 8, from a recent bursting of levees due to this year's winter rains. This hasn't happened before, or at least not to this extent, with more than 46,000 people displaced from their homes.

Due to our quick and effective response in Barranquilla, the Governor's Office requested our support to respond to the humanitarian needs of those affected by this recent flooding. However, the level of damage by this most recent disaster surpasses the funds available from headquarters.

Our office in Colombia has submitted a request for funds from the European Commision, which we hope to match with a fundraising drive lead by the Seattle Sounders, a Seattle-based football team, whose lead striker is Freddy Montero. The Sounder's fundraising campaign is being led by Freddy, who was born and raised in Cruz del Campo, the municipality that has been most heavily affected by the breach in the levees and the subsequent floods.

The devastation surpasses the response capacity of the regional government. Due to our work in Barranquilla, our team is ready to go into the area and I'm arriving on-site on Monday to fully plan our response.

The winter rains are raging in Colombia, and the national emergency response has not met the urgent need of those affected. Mercy Corps is doing the most with the limited funds available raised by our strong team at headquarters. Thanks for the support and let's keep it coming!

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When I first visited the neighborhood of El Bosque in Barranquilla, the landslide had affected nearly 350 families, with the partial or complete collapse of a large portion of the community. That was 10 days ago. Since then, Mercy Corps has raised funds from headquarters and matched them with funds from the District Government to provide a rapid response to the urgent needs of the affected vulnerable community.

Our team is on the ground, implementing a community needs assessment of the affected population, identifying leaders and organising an emergency kit distribution.

The winter rains continue to hit the Caribbean coast of Colombia, with continued floods and landslides in Barranquilla. The landslide of El Bosque has continued to move, now affecting more than 500 households in the neighborhood. The task at hand is daunting — however, the team is in full motion, with full support from the District Government, and the response has started off on a great step.

The news of the disasters in Colombia are making international headlines, and funds are now available to provide a greater response to the needs that are rising. Right now, Mercy Corps is the only organisation responding in Barranquilla, and our connections with the local authorities have given us a great position to respond quickly and effectively to the emergency in Barranquilla.

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Two young boys walk through the wreckage of their neighborhood of El Bosque, one of the poorest in Barranquilla, home to a variety of displaced and marginalised families. Photo: Alan Grundy/Mercy Corps

During a routine visit to one of our Disaster Prevention Pilot Projects in the city of Barranquilla, Colombia and a fast conversation with German Manota — the right-hand man of Barranquilla's Mayor — I was quickly introduced to the devastation that is currently occurring here.

Every day, houses are falling due to the unstable land that they were built upon. The hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico have sent large amounts of precipitation to Barranquilla, surpassing what is common and establishing the wettest season in history — a wet season that is expected to last until March of 2011. As usually happens in circumstances like this, the poorest communities are the most affected:

• More than 8,600 families have been impacted
• 946 houses have collapsed
• 837 buildings have been categorized as at-risk and abandoned

The District Government is doing all it can to respond to this large-scale disaster, distributing emergency kits and emergency funds to the affected families. Unfortunately, the disaster has far surpassed what the government can handle.

German is quick to catch me up to speed and whisks me away to the worst-hit and poorest area, a community called El Bosque (ironically translated "The Forest"), comprised of vulnerable and marginalised families (i.e. internally-displaced people, female heads-of-households and ethnic minorities). German is in charge of signing the checks to provide some emergency income to the worst hit families. In the meantime, I am pulled away by some of the affected population and "toured" through the destruction.

This landslide is peculiar, as the slide is not from the top land cover, but instead from the below-ground substrate. The heavy rains have liquified the below-ground, leaving pockets that are filled by the above-ground, effectively creating a focused-area earthquake. The destruction is amazing and words can't come close to describing it.

A woman stands beside her severely damaged and now-unlivable home in El Bosque. Photo: Alan Grundy/Mercy Corps

All that the families can do is take out their belongings and look for temporary housing. All I could do was call Country Director Gary Burniske and get the news out to Mercy Corps Headquarters.

That night I returned to Bogotá and, the next morning, sat down with the Gary and Hugo Gomez — our Disaster Response Consultant — to define a strategy and find out our niche in this disaster. An action plan was quickly developed, adapting a plan that was implemented last year in Soacha, and Headquarters funds were generated to provide some emergency relief for this month. The District and Departmental Governments pledged their financial and logistical support. Our response seeks to help out at least 1,000 families in El Bosque.

I arrive on site tomorrow, with a three-day objective of setting up the response team, establishing a temporary office centre, finalizing working agreements with the local authorities, and identifying the community leaders that will be supporting our efforts. It amazes me that so few know of this extensive disaster.

Thanks to the Field Office and Headquarters for such a fast turn-around to respond to this silent disaster. I'll keep you posted!

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Residents of the Altos de Cazucá neighborhood, a violent and environmentally degraded community on the outskirts of Bogotá, are planting 63,000 saplings to turn a neglected open space into a magnet for families. Photo: Martha Quintero/Mercy Corps

August 22 is my birthday and, in 2010, it landed on a Sunday. A typical birthday celebration back home in Chile would be a relaxed barbecue, a few beers and that's it. However, this year was different.

I'm leading the implementation of an Urban Forestry project in the urban slums of Bogotá, Colombia, in an area called Soacha. The neighborhood is Altos de Cazucá, considered the most environmentally degraded and violent community of the region, with a high youth mortality due to gang violence, as well as a high incidence of theft and armed robbery. The location isn't the best place to spend your 31st birthday!

But on August 22, the community leaders working for the project organized a community meeting to present the results of the second phase of the urban forestry project being implemented in the region, totaling 2,500 trees planted entirely by the community, as well as 10 family tree-nurseries set up as income-generation activities linked with future urban forestry activities, and a youth-driven Sports-for-Change program that integrated planting activities and environmental education with the end-goal of decreasing child recruitment to youth gangs. It's a pretty tough project that has had me visiting Soacha quite commonly. What I wasn't aware was at how common to the community I was truly becoming.

Gary Burniske, the Country Director for Mercy Corps here — and my boss — accompanied me on the visit to check up on the project and to see if I was actually working (just kidding boss). Not to toot my staff and own horn, but it seemed right away that he was impressed, and it only got better.

The meeting started right on time, with the three community leaders — Rocio, Lucero and Francelina — and Claudia, the environmental promoter, quickly organizing the 200-strong group. After a quick summary of the meeting agenda and a short presentation by Gary and I showing our appreciation for the work being done, the ladies did something I was not expecting.

Claudia informed the group of my birthday, which got a round of applause and cheers and a very lengthy birthday song. To have 200+ people sing you a birthday song, for whom you come to support in improving their lifestyle — well, speechless is the only word I can think of right now to express my reaction. It was the best birthday celebration I've ever had. I never thought work would give me that type of feeling, and I consider myself lucky to have this opportunity. The ladies brought up a cake and hugs were passed all around.

Determination set in on me at that moment, at getting this project entirely funded and going, with the goal of planting 63,000 trees, setting up family-owned tree nurseries, working with kids, women heads-of-household, and conflict victims and survivors. That determination, heavy on the shoulders as it is, will get this project funded. I just hope you readers can help me out with that.

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A micro-hydroelectric energy project is making a difference for one of Colombia's most isolated and marginalised ethnic groups.

Mercy Corps Colombia is helping Nasa Paez communities in the country's impoverished Tierradentro region address their energy needs while protecting the environment. When the project is completed, the Nasa Paez will become the first indigenous group in the country that's autonomous and self-sufficient in energy production.

You can learn more about the project and meet some of the people involved in this video:

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