1999 Armenia earthquake
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| 1999 Armenia earthquake | ||
|---|---|---|
| Image:Republic of Colombia - Quindio.png Map of the most affected area, the Quindio department. | ||
| Date | January 19 1999 | |
| Magnitude | 6.4 Mw | |
| Depth | 33.0 kilometres (19 mi) | |
| Epicenter location | ||
| Countries affected | Image:Flag of Colombia.svg Colombia | |
| Casualties | over 2000 estimated | |
The 1999 Armenia earthquake is a natural disaster that affected heavily the city of Armenia, Colombia in the Quindio department, 18 towns and 28 villages in the Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis region departments, and in a lesser degree, the cities of Pereira and Manizales.
The earthquake happened on Monday, 25th January, 1999 13:19 (18:19:17 GMT) with an intensity of 6.4 degrees in the Richter scale.
The epicenter was located in the coordinates latitude 4,29 degrees north and longitude 75,68 degrees west, with a focus deep 33,0 km.
Contents |
[edit] Causes
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 where the Nazca, Cocos, and Pacific plates converge. About 60% of the existent structures in Armenia collapsed, due to the high amount of old structures, built without technical requirements and the lack of urban planning and land studies.
[edit] Aftershocks
14 earthquake aftershocks were detected, the first and strongest registered at 17:40:18 (22:40:18 GMT) with 5.4 degrees in the Richter scale. Other aftershocks that caused panicking among the inhabitants were: The 29th at 23:33 (4.2 degrees) and the 31th at 03:03 (3.5 degrees)
[edit] Death toll
Since the disaster destroyed the main structures of control and help in the city (the police headquarters collapsed immediately, also the firefight station, the forensics office and the Civil Defense) there were no means to an accurate report and account of victims.
The initial earthquake produced a rough stimated of casualties about 1000 people. The first (17:40) earthquake replica produced a still undeterminated number of victims among the people trying to remove their goods from the semi-collapsed structures. The subsequent riots, robberies to the injured victims, attacks to the shops and homes, and fights for food, water and accommodation raised the total number of deaths to over 2000. The corpses that were retrieved were carried to the local Quindio University auditorium to be identified by their relatives. Since the forensic services were out, many of them cannot be recognized and were buried in common tombs.
[edit] Injured
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 case of disasters and little experience with triage. As a consequence, the attention of the victims was chaotic. About 4,000 people with various degrees of lesions were attended 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, Medellín, and Cali), and out of the country.
[edit] Missing persons
The amount of missing persons as a result of the earthquake is stimated near to 3900. Some factors involved in the disappearance of this 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.
[edit] Economic impact
The main economic activity of the region, the Colombian coffee industry was heavily affected. About 8.000 coffee farms were complete or partially destroyed, also 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 cannot dispense money for several weeks.
[edit] Rebuilding
The national and foreign donations of money and resources allowed the rebuilt of the urban area of Armenia and affected towns. The organism created for the administration of this founds was known as the FOREC institute (acronym for reconstruction fund for the coffee grower axis).
[edit] References
- ARANGO, J. D. y 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.htmles:Terremoto de Armenia de 1999
