BLAME GAME

Colombia Opens Investigation Into Deadly Landslide

Amid criticism authorities didn’t act quickly enough.

Colombian authorities have ordered an investigation into a landslide that left at least 290 people dead in Mocoa on Saturday. The probe will examine whether building regulations were properly enforced, and whether local officials were properly prepared for such a disaster. Edgardo Maya, the national comptroller who ordered the investigation, said the goal was not to find and punish those responsible but rather to take steps to prevent such a calamity from happening again. “What good does it do to punish people now, after [so many] deaths?” Maya was quoted as saying Wednesday by the BBC. Days after the landslide, rescuers are still digging for victims beneath debris and crushed buildings. The government has fought back against criticism that it didn’t act swiftly enough, with President Juan Manuel Santos saying authorities had relied on new emergency planning systems created after deadly flooding in 2010.