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Peru's Congress Proposes to Reorganize Ineffective Earthquake Reconstruction Team

(LIP-ir) -- Peru's President of Congress, Luis Gonzales Posada suggested today that FORSUR, the organization in charge of rebuilding the areas affected by the August 15 earthquake, should be redesigned so that it does not continue running with "lead feet."

Posada strongly urged that FORSUR be reorganized to speed up the reconstruction process and avoid encountering more problems. Thus, being able to help the victims of Peru's magnitude-8 earthquake more quickly.

"A complete reorganization of FORSUR is completely indispensable, I don't know if it should be with the same people that are running it now, that is up to the executive branch. What is required is a solution to the problems which are accumulating and affecting thousands of victims," said Gonzales Posada.

On a radio program today, Peru's President of Congress stated that parliament was willing to work with any proposal that would facilitate the reconstruction of Ica, Pisco and Chincha - all of which were severely damaged by the earthquake.

In addition, he explained that congress had already unanimously approved a project in which municipalities were authorized to spend 20 percent of their budget on rebuilding the areas affected by the earthquake.

Gonzales Posada admitted that many people had criticized FORSUR for working too slowly and suggested that the organization be reorganized. Several members of FORSUR have resigned and disapproved of the organization.

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# Jet says :
16 October, 2007 [ 23:05 ]

It's good to see that congress is recognizing and acknowledging the problem and is now going to do something about it.
My guess is that many people that made up the board of FORSUR were there for "publicity opportunities" rather that purely patriotic reasons or a burning desire to help rebuild Pisco. Unfortunately, as any honest Peruvian will tell you, any time a new branch of goverment or goverment organization is created in Peru, it rapidly fills up with people that are there soley with the intentions to find a way to profit from it, and many times in highly illegal ways.
One might think that surely that wouldn't be the case when it comes to a natural disaster like that which hit Pisco. But one look at the local and national newspapers in Peru after the earthquake hit and the reports abound of corruption on behalf of those in charge of receiving and distributing foreign aide that was supposed to be going to the earthquake victims. And not suprisingly (or maybe not so suprisngly) , many of these "people in-charge" are actually well known and established people in the community or exisiting government agencies.

  But the hardest part of it to understand is the fact that many of these corrupt individuals are already living well.  And yet they risk everything they have built in wealth and career, just to steal and warehouse blankets and food rations! It's as if they have a burning desire which borders on obsession to find any new way to steal or take a percentage of funds or goods which are supposed to be going to the nation or its people. 
It's a culture of corruption and shamelessness that hopefully one day will be expelled from the Peruvian psyche.
Indeed, perhaps the best thing that we've seen in Peru in the past 15 years, is the relentlessness of the many anti-corruption groups that have emerged and now exist throughout the nation. What a good sign that the people of Peru themselves have reached the boiling point with the kind of behaviour of the corrupt and morally bankrupt.  This indeed is one of the "first fruits" of this nations newly re-formed democracy.