Quibdó, Colombia, Aug 17 (EFE).-
Colombian singer Shakira announced Monday that she will rebuild the Technological University of Chocó, damaged by the earthquake that struck Colombia on Aug. 10, and that she and American philanthropist Howard Graham Buffett will promote the construction of 10 new schools in the department.
“I am going to dedicate all my personal efforts to rebuilding the Technological University of Chocó (…) Howard is going to help us with the Barefoot Foundation to build ten new schools in Chocó, that’s why it was so important to bring him here, that’s why it was so important to come today,” Shakira told reporters during a visit with Buffett to Chocó capital Quibdó.
She said that “every day that children don’t go to school is a day that we put their future on hold, and we cannot allow that.”
At her initiative, the singer said the Global Citizen movement will contribute $500,000 and the concert promoter Live Nation will donate another $500,000, for a total of $1 million to be used for the reconstruction of schools destroyed by the earthquake.
The artist also appealed to the governments of Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom, as well as the private sector and other foundations, to join the recovery efforts.
A debt to Chocó
During her visit, Shakira said that the department carries a “historical debt” and warned that the emergency should not end once the initial attention to the tragedy subsides.
In Chocó, the earthquake has left at least 13 people dead, thousands displaced, and hundreds of homes and other buildings destroyed or damaged.
“What worries me most is that after the state of emergency ends (…) so many people will be forgotten and displaced, and our children won’t be able to return to school,” she said.
The singer also highlighted the work that the Pies Descalzos Foundation has been doing for 22 years in the region, which has allowed some 400 students to graduate, 70 percent of whom have continued their studies at university.
Shakira toured some of the affected areas of Quibdó with Buffett and visited the Carrasquilla Industrial Technological School, the largest in the department, where they greeted children who were waiting for them and the governor of Chocó, Nubia Carolina Córdoba-Curi.
Howard Buffett, whom Shakira described as her “good friend,” is the son of Warren Buffett, one of the richest men in the world, and has invested more than $160 million in Colombia since 2008, primarily in rural development initiatives, infrastructure, illicit crop substitution, demining, and education.
The magnitude-7.4 earthquake has killed at least 304 people, whose bodies have been handed over to the Institute of Legal Medicine for identification.
The National Unit for Disaster Risk Management reports 4,147 injured and 194 missing, as well as numerous buildings that have collapsed or suffered severe structural damage. EFE str-pc/tw
