Prevention Is Better Than Regret, As CNE Announces Prevention Program To Avoid Yearly Disasters
"Prevenir es mejor que lamentar (prevention is better than regret) is the new slogan of the Comisión Nacional de Emergencias (national emergency condition) as the country heads into the worst period for flooding and mudslides, especially in the the Pacific and Caribbean coasts.

The areas south of Limón on the Caribbean coast and Quepos/Parrita in the Pacific side flood every year. In addition, many parts of Guanacaste, like Filedelfia, southwest of Liberia, are also affected by heavy rain that comes down in September and October.

Each year, the Comisión Nacional de Emergencias (CNE) has to deploy releif efforts in many of the small communities in those areas, some being cut off from other communities for days while emergency crews re-open roads and restore services.

The CNE says that this year they will be out in communities to warn them of the possible dangers ahead and to avoid repeating the scenarios of the previous years. Some communities have been affected every year and each year the residents have done nothing to prevent the occurrence.

The CNE, as part of its prevention plan, has begun to repair bridges in the affected areas as well as begun to build dykes in high risk areas. The CNE hopes to also evacuate residents of high risk zones before the emergency that is inevitable as the rains get heavier with each passing day.

The CNE announced that the governments of China and Japan are helping financially to their prevention program and hope that Costa Ricans adopt the new slogan, but not just in words, but as well in taking action.