The other day the mayor of the county where I live came to have a meeting with the development association (my in-site counterpart) about the possibility of a project to improve the roads in my town (this is a big deal because fixing the roads is the #1 necessity in my town, according to my interviews). The meeting went really well and we’re now starting the process of planning the project (ie getting an engineer to make a blueprint of the roads, using the blueprint to draft a budget for the materials, writing the project proposal to get funding, etc.). At the end of the meeting, we spoke to the mayor about a more urgent need for the road way at the bottom of my community. In normal conditions, this part is passable by car, but due to what people are saying is the most tremendous of rainy seasons in a long time, it is now (well, as of a few days ago, to be exact) barely passable on foot. The mayor told us to take some pictures and he was going to contact the National Emergency Commission (not quite sure what the U.S. equivalent would be, but in CR they help out in cases of emergencies like flooding, earthquakes, etc.) to get some larger sewers that can adequately handle the incredible amount of water that pass through them.
Come Monday, I head down with my host Dad, camera in hand and we are shocked to find that the part that we were there to take pictures of was now the least of our troubles… a part of the road was literally
no longer there. The rains are so ridiculously strong (apparently October is the absolute worst of the rainy season here—it has been pouring for 3 days straight as I write) that the water carried away a substantial part of the road, making it completely impassable. As a picture shows a thousand words, here are some to give you an idea. These are the pictures I’m sending to the Commission, so let’s hope that we come to a resolution as soon as possible so that the 40 people who live beyond where this happened can have a functioning road.
This is what we had come to take pictures of:
This is where the road just washed away:
1 comment:
Wow, that is so crazy! But, this discussion is going on/or should be going on in the United States about our own fiscal spending and infrastructure because it is in bad shape (granted not to the extent of CR),like the 35W Bridge collapse in Minnesota last year. Only a tragedy, like this caused the state government and (hopefully) federal government to focus on our own infrastructure (despite our ADD problem). But this is really great work that you are doing! I can see you as a shining example of FDR's Public Works program. And I imagine it will help CR local economy too.
Thought you would enjoy this article:
http://blog.rooseveltinstitution.org/2007/11/13/public-works-fdr-style/
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/opinion/13tues4.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
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