Going to the city center is one of the actions that thousands of Cucuteños do every day, whether to buy an item, make a payment, keep an appointment, work, in short, this has always been an obligatory meeting point. .

This experience, however, also represents various inconveniences, such as traffic congestion, the high number of street vendors, the increasingly scarce public space and noise pollution that comes mainly from horns and speakers installed in informal and local sales. , the whistles of the cars, the cries of merchants offering their products, among others.

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In September of this year, La Opinion denounced the 'megaphone war' in the center of the city, an activity in which several carts, also called 'zorras' mixed with the sound of businesses, generating chaos in this important zone of the North Santanderean capital.

Given this scenario, the Mayor's Office of Cúcuta issued Decree 0283 of September 24, 2021, by which it prohibited the use of megaphones, loudspeakers and amplifiers in the downtown area.

In this regulation, they requested the National Police to monitor and strictly comply with the measures adopted, as well as the imposition of the respective sanctions that may apply, in accordance with Law 1801 of 2016, modified by Law 2000 of 2019.

Is the standard being met?

In a visit made this week to the center of Cúcuta, La Opinion showed a decrease in the sounds emitted by stationary and street vendors, as well as by commercial premises in the city, although the phenomenon continues to occur.

In a dialogue with one of the animators of a commercial premises selling women's underwear, he stated that officials from the Mayor's Office had visited them to lower the volume of the loudspeaker, but they did not prohibit them from making loudspeakers, so their screams compensated for the low sound that can be emitted.

In Colombia, the maximum decibels allowed during the day in residential areas is 65 decibels (dB), in commercial and industrial areas up to 70 dB and in quiet areas 45 dB. At night, the maximum allowed is 45 dB in residential areas, 60 dB in commercial areas, 75 dB in industrial areas and 45 dB in quiet places.

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In about an hour of travel, it was possible to see and hear that four of the informal vendors who use "sluts" continue to use megaphones and loudspeakers to offer their products. However, it is worth mentioning that the vast majority of vendors still have the sound amplification system, but were not using it.

“The Police have told us that it cannot be used, that is why we have the megaphone turned off there. This affects sales, because people don't see you; there are many vendors and few people there, due to the crisis seen in the streets,” one of the vendors told La Opinion.

During the visit, this newsroom found officials from the Government Secretariat making controls on the use of public space.

phenomenon in the neighborhoods

Although Decree 0283 has been giving results in terms of reducing noise pollution in the center, some citizens continue to report that the phenomenon of megaphones and loudspeakers is still in force in the city's neighborhoods.

"Every day vendors of avocados, bananas, among other foods, pass through here that, although they offer them at good prices, their promotion is done through sound amplification that disturbs the tranquility," denounced Charles Olarte, a resident of Prados. from the east.

Residents of sectors such as Los Caobos, Ceiba, Guaimaral and other neighborhoods have also questioned that the noise produced by street vendors continues to be present, without the apparent control of the authorities.

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Given this, the secretary of the Government of Cúcuta, Cristian Buitrago, clarified that the decree that prohibits the use of megaphones, although it was issued in September and some results are already being seen, the pedagogy and the sanctions will begin in December.

"We will begin with a process of instruction to these people that, if they are reluctant in this action, will be followed by the confiscation of these devices," said Buitrago.

The official specified that this measure was taken because "there is a popular action ruling that asks to eliminate the noise of this central area, so the Government Secretariat will enforce it."

And the noise map?

In 2014, the Regional Autonomous Corporation of the Northeast Border (Corponor) delivered to the Mayor of Cúcuta, which at that time was headed by Donamaris Ramírez, the Noise Map in which the areas of the city that were for residential use were identified, commercial, industrial and quiet.

Jorge Arenas, deputy director of Measurement and Air Quality at Corponor, explained that control over noise excesses rests with the municipal administration, although he clarified that the Map must be updated.

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“In 2018, when the Map expired, it could not be updated because the new Territorial Ordering Plan (POT) was not established. In 2019, the Council delivered the POT and when we were going to make the new Map, the pandemic appeared and said information could not be collected, so the commitment is to be able to do it in 2022, ”he said.

Arenas said that updating this document is necessary, because there are areas of the city that have changed their use and cited as an example the commercial boom in the Los Caobos neighborhood, considered today as the new pink zone of the city.

What risks are there for health?

Jesús Antonio Álvarez Angarita, a speech therapist specializing in audiology, emphasized the importance of controlling the noise of the city, mainly because in the long term this could have irreparable consequences.

“Many factors that trigger health damage in humans must be taken into account. The damage caused to the sense of hearing varies widely, but the main cause of hearing loss (hypoacusis) is noise. It is very common to find this pathology in a diverse population, for example: industry workers, military personnel, teachers and drivers”, he explained.

The specialist affirms that studies carried out in medium-sized cities show that the ambient sound pressure level easily exceeds 90 decibels.

“If we expose a person to that level of noise for more than 6 hours, what we get is irreparable hearing loss, apart from other types of alterations such as tinnitus. Patients tend to experience hearing fatigue, headaches, and feel like they are listening and not understanding,” he added.

Álvarez Angarita maintains that, due to the characteristic of noise-induced hearing loss, patients do not tend to report deafness until the passing of years, because the pathology "is progressive and preserves the frequencies that give discrimination."

In conclusion, the specialist says that exposure to noise generates hearing loss, which is known as deafness, which is irreparable, "the great concern is the few actions aimed at reducing risk factors."

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