The lessons to be learned after reading this story by John Otis in Time magazine couldn't be clearer. Here's the set-up, describing the situation in Colombia:
Amid 11 months of nearly nonstop rain, dykes have burst and rivers have topped their banks, inundating communities, cattle ranches, and croplands in 28 of Colombia's 32 departments. Waterlogged Andean mountainsides have collapsed, burying neighborhoods and blocking highways. More than 1,000 people have been killed, injured or gone missing. In the flooded town of Puerto Boyacá in central Colombia, coffins holding the dead are being floated to the cemetery on boats.
Surely, there's a climate change story here, begging to be told, some of you will ask. There is, but that's not the story Otis is writing about. His objective is to show you how ill prepared Colombia was for this slow-motion disaster in the making, and what's impeding recovery efforts and keeping aid ...
