Colombian singer Shakira announced on Monday that she will rebuild the Technological University of Chocó, damaged by the earthquake that shook Colombia on August 10, and together with American philanthropist Howard Graham Buffett, she will promote the construction of ten new schools in the department.
"I am going to dedicate all my personal efforts to rebuild the Technological University of Chocó (...) Howard is going to help us with (the Foundation) Barefoot Foundation to build ten new schools in Chocó, that's why it was so important to bring him, that's why it was so important to come today," Shakira told journalists during a visit with Buffett to Quibdó, the capital of Chocó.
The singer emphasized that "every day that children do not go to school is a day when we pause their future, and we cannot allow that.
Shakira explained that through her initiative, Global Citizen movement will contribute $500,000 and concert promoter Live Nation will provide another $500,000, for a total of one million dollars that will be allocated to the reconstruction of schools destroyed by the earthquake.
The artist also made a call to the Governments of Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom, as well as to the private sector and other foundations, to join the recovery efforts in Chocó.
During her visit, Shakira stated that the department carries a "historical debt" and warned that the emergency should not end when the initial attention to the tragedy passes, which in Chocó has left at least 13 people dead, thousands affected, and hundreds of homes and other buildings destroyed or damaged.
"What worries me the most is that after the state of emergency passes (...) so many people are left forgotten and affected, and our children cannot return to school," she said.
The singer also highlighted the work carried out for 22 years in Chocó by the Barefoot Foundation, which has enabled around 400 students to graduate, with 70% continuing their studies at university.
Shakira toured with Buffett some of the affected areas of Quibdó 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 allocated over 160 million dollars to Colombia since 2008, mainly for rural development initiatives, infrastructure, substitution of illicit crops, demining, and education.
The magnitude 7.4 earthquake leaves at least 304 dead whose bodies have been handed over to the Institute of Legal Medicine (IML) for identification, while the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD) reports 4,147 injured and 194 missing, as well as numerous collapsed buildings or with serious structural damage.