1999 Armenia, Colombia earthquake
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The 1999 Armenia, Colombia earthquake occurred on 25 January 1999 at with an
epicenter The epicenter, epicentre () or epicentrum in seismology is the point on the Earth's surface directly above a hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or an underground explosion originates. Surface damage Before the instrumental pe ...
west south west of
Ibagué Ibagué () (referred to as San Bonifacio de Ibagué del Valle de las Lanzas during the Spanish period) is the capital of Tolima, one of the 32 departments that make up the Republic of Colombia. The city is located in the center of the country, ...
,
Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
.Magnitude 6.2 Colombia
United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...
The shock heavily affected the city of
Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
in the Quindío department, and about 18 other towns and 28 additional villages in the
Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis The Colombian coffee region ( es, Eje Cafetero), also known as the Coffee Triangle ( es, Triángulo del Café) is a part of the Paisa region in the rural area of Colombia. It is famous for growing and producing the majority of Colombian coffee ...
region departments, and to a lesser degree, the cities of
Pereira Pereira (Portuguese and Galician for "pear tree") may refer to: People * Pereira (surname) Places *Brazil **Pereira (Bahia) (est. 1534) in the present-day Barra neighborhood of Salvador in Bahia **Pereira Barreto, municipality in São Paulo **Pe ...
and
Manizales Manizales () is a city in central Colombia. It is the capital of the Caldas Department, Department of Caldas, and lies near the Nevado del Ruiz volcano. Currently, the city is the main center for the production of Colombian coffee and an importa ...
. The earthquake had a magnitude of 6.2 on the
moment magnitude scale The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mw, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. It was defined in a 1979 pape ...
and was the strongest earthquake to strike Colombia in 16 years.1999: Colombia quake leaves hundreds dead
''
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''


Cause

This area has a well known high seismic risk, due to the triple junction that occurs at the northwest corner of the
South American Plate The South American Plate is a major tectonic plate which includes the continent of South America as well as a sizable region of the Atlantic Ocean seabed extending eastward to the African Plate, with which it forms the southern part of the Mid-A ...
where the Nazca, Cocos, and Pacific plates converge. About 60% of the existent poorly engineered structures in Armenia collapsed, due to the high number of old structures, built without technical requirements and the lack of urban planning and land studies.


Damage

The earthquake hit Colombia's coffee-growing region, and toppled tower blocks, hotels, and historic churches in Armenia. Most of the buildings that collapsed were old and poorly constructed, or were built on poor soil such as old landfill sites or steep slopes. The newer structures, for the most part, survived intact due to building codes established in 1984. The worst hit part of the country were regional capitals of
Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
and
Pereira Pereira (Portuguese and Galician for "pear tree") may refer to: People * Pereira (surname) Places *Brazil **Pereira (Bahia) (est. 1534) in the present-day Barra neighborhood of Salvador in Bahia **Pereira Barreto, municipality in São Paulo **Pe ...
. In Armenia, about south of the epicentre, single-story homes were demolished. The mainshock produced a rough casualty estimate of about 1,000 people. The first (17:40) aftershock produced a still indeterminate number of victims among the people trying to remove their goods from the semi-collapsed structures. The corpses that were retrieved were carried to the local
University of Quindío The University of Quindío ( es, Universidad del Quindío, links=no), is a public institution and department in Colombia, under the Ministry of Education; Its headquarters are located in Armenia, Quindío, Colombia. The University of Quindío i ...
auditorium to be identified by their relatives. Since the forensic services were out, many of them could not be recognized and were buried in common tombs. The structures of many hospitals were damaged, and the resources available for health care were insufficient even before the event. Furthermore, the area had limited reaction plans for disasters and little experience with
triage In medicine, triage () is a practice invoked when acute care cannot be provided for lack of resources. The process rations care towards those who are most in need of immediate care, and who benefit most from it. More generally it refers to prio ...
. As a consequence, the attention to the victims was chaotic. About 4,000 people with various degrees of lesions were attended to in the remaining health care centers of the city. An undetermined number of injured victims (many of them unidentified) were carried by airplane to different cities (mainly
Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...
,
Medellín Medellín ( or ), officially the Municipality of Medellín ( es, Municipio de Medellín), is the second-largest city in Colombia, after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia. It is located in the Aburrá Valley, a central re ...
, and
Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,227,642 residents according to the 2018 census. The city spans with of urban area, making Cali the second ...
), and out of the country. The number of missing people as a result of the earthquake is estimated to be near 3,900. Some factors involved in the disappearance of these people are the security issues due to the riots, the collapse of communications and roads, the lack of coordination of the rescue forces, dispatch of the injured victims and identification of the corpses. Mainly the injuries in the earthquakes were made by collapsing buildings which broke bones, caused concussions, bruises, cuts and many more injuries.


Aftershocks

A shock occurred at 15:40 (22:40 UTC) with a magnitude of 5.4 on the Richter scale. Other aftershocks that caused panic among the inhabitants were on January 29 at 23:33 (M4.2) and January 31 at 03:03 (M3.5)


Response

Colombian authorities imposed a dawn-till-dusk curfew to allow rescue workers to work unhindered. Looting was widespread in Armenia after residents, disturbed by the slow movement of the relief effort, broke into food stores and stole supplies. Then Colombian president
Andrés Pastrana Andres or Andrés may refer to: *Andres, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Will County, Illinois, US *Andres, Pas-de-Calais, a commune in Pas-de-Calais, France *Andres (name) *Hurricane Andres * "Andres" (song), a 1994 song by L7 See also ...
postponed a trip to Germany to attend a World Bank meeting to view the destruction himself. He later had to send soldiers to the afflicted area to restore order.


Aftermath

The main economic activity of the region, the
Colombian coffee Coffee production in Colombia has a reputation for producing mild, well-balanced coffee beans. Colombia's average annual coffee production of 11.5 million bags is the third total highest in the world, after Brazil and Vietnam, though highe ...
industry was heavily affected. About 8,000 coffee farms were completely or partially destroyed, and 13,000 structures of several kinds of enterprises and industries were damaged and went temporarily or permanently out of service. The banks and financial entities could not dispense money for several weeks. In January 2002 the new community of
El Cantaro EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...
was finished.'From death to life': Three years after earthquake, El Cantaro celebrates new homes
''
Mennonite Central Committee Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is a relief service, and peace agency representing fifteen Mennonite, Brethren in Christ and Amish bodies in North America. The U.S. headquarters are in Akron, Pennsylvania, the Canadian in Winnipeg, Manitoba. ...
(MCC)'' by Elizabeth Soto and Frank Albrecht
Many of the 125 families that gathered to celebrate the completion of their homes were chosen from among the neediest. An ecological park was created further down the eponymous stream.


See also

*
List of earthquakes in 1999 This is a list of earthquakes in 1999. Only earthquakes of magnitude 6 or above are included, unless they result in damage and/or casualties, or are notable for some other reason. All dates are listed according to UTC (Coordinated Universal Ti ...
*
List of earthquakes in Colombia This is a list of earthquakes in Colombia. Colombia is a seismically active country and has a large seismic risk in many areas of its territory due to its location at the boundaries of the Malpelo, Panama, Caribbean, North Andes (where most ea ...


References


Bibliography

* Arango, J. D. & Quintero, B. E. Dianóstico del Sismo del 25 de enero de 1999. In: Boletin de la Red Sismológica del Eje Cafetero. Vol.8 Manizales: 2000 46–53 p. * Baker, V. R. Regional Landforms Analysis. NASA, Red mundial, 2001. * Cardona, O. D. Lessons in Seismic Engineering and Disaster Prevention. Special Report. The Earthquake of Armenia, Colombia, January 25, 1999. Geohazards International. Red mundial, 2000. Www.geohaz.org/member/report/cardeng99.html


External links

*
Detailed information about this earthquake
by the
Colombian Geological Survey The Colombian Geological Survey (CGS) ( es, Servicio Geológico Colombiano; formerly known as INGEOMINAS) is a scientific agency of the Colombian government in charge of contributing to the socioeconomic development of the nation through research ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:1999 Armenia, Colombia Earthquake
Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
Earthquakes in Colombia
Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
Armenia, Colombia January 1999 events in South America 1999 disasters in Colombia