Armero Tragedy

Lahars covered the town of Armero.More than 20,000 people died.

Armero tragedyFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaThe Armero tragedy (Spanish: Tragediade Armero [taxeja e armeo]) wasone of the major consequences of theeruption of the Nevado del Ruizstratovolcano in Tolima, Colombia, onNovember 13, 1985. After 69 years ofdormancy, the volcano's eruption caughtnearby towns unaware, even though thegovernment had received warnings frommultiple volcanological organizations toevacuate the area when volcanic activityhad been detected in September 1985.[1]As pyroclastic ows erupted from thevolcano's crater, they melted themountain's glaciers, sending four enormous lahars (volcanically inducedmudslides, landslides, and debris ows) down its slopes at 50 kilometers per hour(30 miles per hour). The lahars picked up speed in gullies and coursed into the sixmajor rivers at the base of the volcano; they engulfed the town of Armero, killingmore than 20,000 of its almost 29,000 inhabitants.[2] Casualties in other towns,particularly Chinchin, brought the overall death toll to 23,000. Footage andphotographs of Omayra Snchez, a young victim of the tragedy, were publishedaround the world. Other photographs of the lahars and the impact of the disastercaptured attention worldwide and led to controversy over the degree to which theColombian government was responsible for the disaster. A banner at a massfuneral in Ibagu read, "The volcano didn't kill 22,000 people. The governmentkilled them."The relief eorts were hindered by the composition of the mud, which made itnearly impossible to move through without becoming stuck. By the time reliefworkers reached Armero twelve hours after the eruption, many of the victims withserious injuries were dead. The relief workers were horried by the landscape offallen trees, disgured human bodies, and piles of debris from entire houses. Thiswas the second-deadliest volcanic disaster of the 20th century, surpassed only bythe 1902 eruption of Mount Pele, and is the fourth-deadliest volcanic eventrecorded since 1500 AD. The event was a foreseeable catastrophe exacerbated bythe populace's unawareness of the volcano's destructive history; geologists andother experts had warned authorities and media outlets about the danger over theweeks and days leading up to the eruption. Hazard maps for the vicinity wereprepared, but poorly distributed. On the day of the eruption, several evacuationattempts were made, but a severe storm restricted communications. Many victimsstayed in their houses as they had been instructed, believing that the eruption

Coordinates: 45748N 745420W

Armero tragedy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Armero...

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had ended. The noise from the storm may have prevented many from hearing thesounds from Ruiz until it was too late.Nevado del Ruiz has erupted several times since the disaster, and continues tothreaten up to 500,000 people living along the Combeima, Chinchina, Coello-Toche, and Guali river valleys. A lahar (or group of lahars) similar in size to the1985 event could potentially travel as far as 100 kilometers (60 mi) from thevolcano, and could be triggered by a small eruption. To counter this threat, theColombian government established a specialized oce which promotesawareness of natural threats. The United States Geological Survey also createdthe Volcano Disaster Assistance Program and the Volcano Crisis Assistance Team,which evacuated roughly 75,000 people from the area around Mount Pinatubobefore its 1991 eruption. In 1988, three years after the eruption, Dr. StanleyWilliams of Louisiana State University stated that, "With the possible exception ofMount St. Helens in the state of Washington, no other volcano in the WesternHemisphere is being watched so elaborately" as Nevado del Ruiz. Additionally,many of Colombia's cities have programs to raise awareness of natural disasterplanning programs which have helped save lives in natural disasters. NearNevado del Ruiz in particular, locals have become wary of volcanic activity: whenthe volcano erupted in 1989, more than 2,300 people living around it wereevacuated.

Contents1 Background2 1985 activity

2.1 Precursor2.2 Preparation and attempted evacuation2.3 Eruption2.4 Impact

3 Relief eorts4 Aftermath

4.1 Controversy5 Legacy

5.1 Commemorations6 See also7 Footnotes8 Notes

8.1 Sources9 External links


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BackgroundArmero, located 48 kilometers (30 mi) from the Nevado del Ruiz volcano and 169kilometers (105 mi) from Colombia's capital of Bogot, was the third largest townin Tolima Department, after Ibagu and Espinal.[3] A prominent farming townbefore the eruption, it was responsible for roughly one-fth of Colombia's riceproduction, and for a large share of the cotton, sorghum, and coee crops. Muchof this success can be attributed to Nevado del Ruiz, as the fertile volcanic soilhad stimulated agricultural growth.[4] Built on top of an alluvial fan[5] that hadbeen host to historic lahars, the town was previously destroyed by a volcaniceruption in 1595 and by mudows in 1845.[6] In the 1595 eruption, three distinctPlinian eruptions[7] produced lahars that claimed the lives of 636 people.[8]During the 1845 event, 1,000 people were killed by earthquake-generatedmudows near the Magdalena River.[9]Nevado del Ruiz has undergone three distinct eruptive periods, the rstbeginning 1.8 million years ago. During the present period (beginning11,000 years ago), it has erupted at least twelve times, producing ashfalls,pyroclastic ows, and lahars. The historically recorded eruptions have primarilyinvolved a central vent eruption (in the caldera) followed by an explosiveeruption, then the formation of lahars. Ruiz's earliest identied Holocene eruptionwas in about 6660 BC, and further eruptions occurred around 1245, 850, 200 BCand in about 350, 675, in 1350, 1541 (perhaps), 1570, 1595, 1623, 1805, 1826,1828 (perhaps), 1829, 1831, 1833 (perhaps), 1845, 1916, December 1984 throughMarch 1985, 1987 through July 1991, and possibly in April 1994. Many of theseeruptions involved a central vent eruption, a ank vent eruption, and a phreatic(steam) explosion.[10] Ruiz is the second-most active volcano in Colombia afterGaleras.[11]One week before the eruption, the Palace of Justice siege took place. Theassailants (M-19 a Marxist, Terrorist Insurgency group) planned to hold a trialinvolving Colombian President Belisario Betancur. He refused to participate andsent the national army into the building. The attackers were holding severalhundred hostages, including the 24 Supreme Court justices and 20 other judges.In the ensuing battle between the two forces, more than 75 hostages died(including 11 judges). This disaster, coupled with the Armero tragedy, spurred theColombian government to predict and prepare for a broad range of threats.[12]

1985 activityPrecursorIn late 1984, geologists noticed that seismic activity in the area had begun to


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Nevado del Ruiz seen fromspace. The summit ice capand glaciers surround thedark Arenas crater.

increase. Increased fumarole activity, deposition of sulfur on the summit of thevolcano, and phreatic eruptions also alerted geologists to the possibility of aneruption. Phreatic events, when rising magma encounters water, continued wellinto September 1985 (one major event took place on September 11, 1985),shooting steam high into the air. Activity began to decline in October, probablybecause the new magma had nished ascending into Nevado del Ruiz's volcanicedice.[13]

An Italian volcanological mission analyzed gassamples from fumaroles along the Arenas crateroor and found them to be a mixture of carbondioxide and sulfur dioxide, indicating a directrelease of magma into the surface environment.Publishing a report for ocials on October 22,1985, the scientists determined that the risk oflahars was unusually high. To prepare for theeruption, the report gave several simplepreparedness techniques to local authorities.[14]Another team gave the local ocialsseismographs, but no instructions on how tooperate them.[15]

Volcanic activity increased again in November 1985 as magma neared thesurface. Increasing quantities of gases rich in sulfur dioxide and elemental sulfurbegan to appear in the volcano. The water content of the fumaroles' gasesdecreased, and water springs in the vicinity of Nevado del Ruiz became enrichedwith magnesium, calcium and potassium, leached from the magma.[13] Thethermodynamic equilibration temperatures, corresponding to the chemicalcomposition of the discharged gases, ranged from 200 to 600 C (400 to1,100 F); this is a measure of the temperature at which the gases equilibratedwithin the volcano. The extensive degassing of the magma caused pressure tobuild up inside the volcano in the space above the magma, which eventuallyresulted in the explosive eruption.[16]

Preparation and attempted evacuationIn September 1985, as earthquakes and phreatic eruptions rocked the area, localocials began planning for an evacuation. In October, a hazard map was nalizedfor the area around Nevado del Ruiz.[nb 1] This map highlighted the danger fromfalling materialincluding ash and rocknear Murillo, Santa Isabel, and Libano,as well as the threat of lahars in Mariquita, Guayabal, Chinchin and Armero.[18]Unfortunately, the map was poorly distributed to the people at high risk fromRuiz: many survivors had never heard of it, even though several of the country'smajor newspapers featured versions of the map.[17] Henry Villegas of


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A recent hazard map prepared for Nevado delRuiz and vicinity, showing all of the majordisaster zones aected by the eruption

INGEOMINAS (Colombian Institute of Mining and Geology) stated that the hazardmaps clearly demonstrated that Armero would be aected by the lahars, but thatthe map "met with strong opposition from economic interests." He added thatbecause the map was not prepared long before the eruption, mass production anddistribution of it in time was dicult.[19]

At least one of the hazard mapspublished in the prominent ElEspectador newspaper in Bogotincluded glaring errors. Withoutproper graphic scaling, it wasunclear how big the map's hazardzones really were. The lahars onthe map did not have a distinctending point, and the main threatseemed to be from pyroclasticows, not from mudows. Thoughthe map was colored blue, green,red, and yellow, there was no keyto indicate what each colorrepresented, and Armero waslocated in the green zone (believedto indicate the safest area).Another map published by the El

Tiempo newspaper featured illustrations which "gave a perception of topographyto the public unfamiliar with maps, allowing them to relate hazard zones to thelandscape." In spite of this presentation that was keyed to the audience, the mapended up a more artistic representation of the risk than a purely scientic one.[19]The day of the eruption, black ash columns erupted from the volcano atapproximately 3:00 pm local time. The local Civil Defense director was promptlyalerted to the situation. He contacted INGEOMINAS, which ruled that the areashould be evacuated; he was then told to contact the Civil Defense directors inBogot and Tolima. Between 5:00 and 7:00 pm, the ash stopped falling, and localocials instructed people to "stay calm" and go inside. Around 5:00 pm anemergency committee meeting was called, and when it ended at 7:00 pm, severalmembers contacted the regional Red Cross over the intended evacuation eortsat Armero, Mariquita, and Honda. The Ibagu Red Cross contacted Armero'socials and ordered an evacuation, which was not carried out because ofelectrical problems caused by a storm. The storm's heavy rain and constantthunder may have overpowered the noise of the volcano, and with no systematicwarning eorts, the residents of Armero were completely unaware of thecontinuing activity at Ruiz. At 9:45 pm, after the volcano had erupted, CivilDefense ocials from Ibagu and Murillo tried to warn Armero's ocials, butcould not make contact. Later they overheard conversations between individual


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Summit of Nevado del Ruiz inlate November 1985

ocials of Armero and others; famously, a few heard the Mayor of Armerospeaking on a ham radio, saying "that he did not think there was much danger",when he was overtaken by the lahar.[20]

EruptionAt 9:09 pm, on November 13, 1985,[21] Nevado delRuiz ejected dacitic tephra more than 30kilometers (20 mi) into the atmosphere.[13] Thetotal mass of the erupted material (includingmagma) was 35 million metric tons[13] only threepercent of the amount that erupted from Mount St.Helens in 1980.[22] The eruption reached 3 on theVolcanic Explosivity Index.[23] The mass of theejected sulfur dioxide was about 700,000 metrictons, or about two percent of the mass of theerupted solid material,[13] making the eruptionunusually sulfur rich.[24]The eruption produced pyroclastic ows that melted summit glaciers and snow,generating four thick lahars that raced down river valleys on the volcano'sanks,[25] destroying a small lake that was observed in Arenas' crater severalmonths before the eruption. Water in such volcanic lakes tends to be extremelysalty, and may contain dissolved volcanic gases. The lake's hot, acidic watersignicantly accelerated the melting of the ice, an eect conrmed by the largeamounts of sulfates and chlorides found in the lahar ow.[13]

The lahars, formed of water, ice, pumice, and other rocks,[25] incorporated clayfrom eroding soil as they traveled down the volcano's anks.[26] They ran downthe volcano's sides at an average speed of 60 kilometers (40 mi) per hour,dislodging rock and destroying vegetation. After descending thousands of metersdown the side of the volcano, the lahars followed the six river valleys leading fromthe volcano, where they grew to almost four times their original volume. In theGual River, a lahar reached a maximum width of 50 meters (160 ft).[25]Survivors in Armero described the night as "quiet". Volcanic ash had been fallingthroughout the day, but residents were informed it was nothing to worry about.Later in the afternoon, ash began falling again after a long period of quiet. Localradio stations reported that residents should remain calm and ignore thematerial. One survivor reported going to the re department to be informed thatthe ash was "nothing".[27]During the night, the electrical power suddenly turned o and the radios went


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Armero, the aftermath

silent. Just before 11:30 pm, a huge stream of water swept through Armero; itwas powerful enough to ip cars and pick up people. A loud roar could be heardfrom the mountain, but the residents were panicked over what they believed to bea ood.[28]

At 11:30 pm, the rst lahar hit, followed shortly bythe others.[28] One of the lahars virtually erasedArmero; three-quarters of its 28,700 inhabitantswere killed.[25] Proceeding in three major waves,this lahar was 30 meters (100 ft) deep, moved at12 meters per second (39 ft/s), and lasted ten totwenty minutes. Traveling at about 6 meters (20 ft)per second, the second lahar lasted thirty minutesand was followed by smaller pulses. A third majorpulse brought the lahar's duration to roughly two

hours; by that point, 85 percent of Armero was enveloped in mud. Survivorsdescribed people holding on to debris from their homes in attempts to stay abovethe mud. Buildings collapsed, crushing people and raining down debris. The frontof the lahar contained boulders and cobbles which would have crushed anyone intheir path, while the slower parts were dotted by ne, sharp stones which causedlacerations. Mud moved into open wounds and other open body parts the eyes,ears, and mouth and placed pressure capable of inducing traumatic asphyxia inone or two minutes upon people buried in it. Mart and Ernst state in their workVolcanoes and the Environment that they believe that many who survived thelahars succumbed to their injuries as they were trapped, or contractedhypothermia though the latter is unlikely, given that survivors described thewater as warm.[29]Another lahar, which descended through the valley of the Chinchina River, killedabout 1,800 people and destroyed 400 homes in Chinchina.[5] In total, more than23,000 people were killed, approximately 5,000 were injured, and 5,000 homes[25]throughout thirteen villages[27] were destroyed. Some 230,000 people wereaected, 27,000 acres (110 km2) were disrupted, and there were nearly20,000 survivor-refugees.[30] The Armero tragedy, as the event came to be known,was the second-deadliest volcanic disaster of the 20th century, surpassed only bythe 1902 eruption of Mount Pele,[31] and is the fourth-deadliest volcanic eruptionrecorded since 1500 AD.[32] It is also the deadliest lahar,[33] and Colombia's worstnatural disaster.[34]

ImpactThe loss of life was exacerbated by the lack of an accurate timeframe for theeruption and the unwillingness of local authorities to take costly preventative


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Armero was located in thecenter of this photograph,taken in late November 1985.

Only a few buildings andstructures remained standingafter the mud and debrisows ravaged the town ofArmero.

measures without clear signs of imminentdanger.[35] Because its last substantial eruptionhad occurred 140 years earlier, in 1845, it wasdicult for many to accept the danger presentedby the volcano; locals even called it the "SleepingLion."[8] Hazard maps showing that Armero wouldbe completely ooded after an eruption weredistributed more than a month before the eruption,but the Colombian Congress criticized thescientic and civil defense agencies forscaremongering.[citation needed] The eruptionoccurred at the height of guerrilla warfare inBogot, Colombia's capital, and so the government and army were occupied at thetime of the eruption.[15]

The day after the eruption, relief workers wereappalled at its impact. The lahars had left behind agray mass which covered the entire town. Armerowas dotted with broken trees and horriblydisgured human bodies.[36] Debris from huts andhomes protruded from beneath the gray mud. Afew bags lled with crops were discovered in themud. Workers described an acrid smell of "rottingbodies, [...] wood smoke and decayingvegetables."[4] To the horror of these workers, whowere scrambling to begin relief eorts, survivorslet out moans of pain and agony. The damageswere assessed at seven billion dollars, an amountapproximately one-fth of Colombia's 1985 Gross

National Product.[36]As news of the catastrophe spread around the world, the ongoing presidentialelection stopped, and the guerrilla ghters stopped their campaign "in view of thepainful tragedy that has befallen our [the Colombian ghters] nation." Tickets forColombian national championship soccer games added a surcharge of ve centsto go to relief eorts.[37]Scientists who later analyzed the seismograph data noticed that severallong-period earthquakes (which begin strongly and then slowly die out) hadoccurred in the nal hours before the eruption. Volcanologist Bernard Chouet saidthat, "the volcano was screaming 'I'm about to explode'", but the scientists whowere studying the volcano at the time of the eruption were not able to read thesignal.[38]


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The Armero tragedy occurredjust after the 1985 MexicoCity earthquake, responsiblefor the destruction ofbuildings such as this one.

Relief eortsThe eruption occurred at the same time as the 1985 Mexico City earthquake,limiting the amount of supplies that could be sent to each of the disasters.[39]Eorts were organized in Ibagu and Bogot for Armero and in Cali forChinchina, where medical teams gathered. Makeshift triage stations wereestablished in Lerida, Guayabal, and Mariquita, and soon were overwhelmed withthe sheer number of victims. The remaining victims were directed to Ibagu'shospitals, as local institutions had already been destroyed or were at risk fromfurther lahars.[18]

The US government spent over $1 million in aid,and US Ambassador to Colombia Charles S.Gillespie, Jr. donated an initial $25,000 toColombian disaster assistance institutions. TheOce of Foreign Disaster Assistance of the USAgency for International Development (AID) sentone member of the United States GeologicalSurvey (USGS), along with an AID disaster-reliefexpert and 12 helicopters with support andmedical personnel from Panama. The USsubsequently sent additional aircraft and supplies,including 500 tents, 2,250 blankets, and severaltent repair kits. Twenty-four other nationscontributed to the rescue and assistance ofsurvivors. Ecuador supplied a mobile hospital, and

Iceland's Red Cross sent $4,650. The French government sent their own medicalsupplies with 1,300 tents. Japan sent $1.25 million, along with eight doctors,nurses, and engineers, plus $50,000 to the United Nations for relief eorts.[39]Another $50,000 was donated by the Lions Clubs International Foundation.[40]Rescue eorts were hindered by the soft mud that was up to 4.6 meters (15 ft)deep in some places,[41] making it virtually impossible for anyone to traverse itwithout sinking in.[42] To make the situation worse, the highway connected toArmero and several bridges to it had been demolished by the lahars.[41] It tooktwelve hours for the rst survivors to be rescued, so those with serious buttreatable injuries probably died before the rescuers arrived. Because Armero'shospital was destroyed in the eruption, helicopters moved survivors to nearbyhospitals. Six local towns set up makeshift emergency relief clinics, consisting oftreatment areas and shelters for the homeless. To help with the treatment,physicians and rescue teams came from all over the country.[42] Of the 1244patients spread over the clinics, 150 died from infection or associatedcomplications. Had antibiotics been readily available and all of their lacerationsbeen thoroughly cleaned, many of these people could have been saved.[29]


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Nevado del Ruiz roughly twoweeks after the eruption tookplace

On November 20, 1985, one week later, rescue eorts began to cease. Nearly4,000 relief workers and rescue team members were still searching for survivors,with little hope of nding any. By then, the ocial death toll was registered at22,540 people; additional counts showed that 3,300 were missing,20,000 homeless, and 4,000 injured. Looters raided the ruins and survivors facedconcerns of typhus and yellow fever. For most of the relief workers, their job wasover.[43]The eruption was used as an example for psychiatric recuperation after naturaldisasters by Robert Desjarlais and Leon Eisenberg in their work World MentalHealth: Problems and Priorities in Low-Income Countries. The authors wereconcerned that only initial treatment for the survivors' trauma was conducted.One study showed that the victims of the eruption suered from anxiety anddepression, which can lead to alcohol abuse, marital problems and other socialissues.[42] Rafael Ruiz, an Army Major who briey served as Armero's provisionalmayor after the disaster, stated that there were survivors who, due to the traumaof the event, were "jittery", experienced "nightmares", and suered from"emotional problems." He added that the progress made by Christmas of 1985was considerable, but that there was "still a long way to go."[44]

AftermathA lack of preparation for the disaster contributedto the high death toll. Armero had been built on analluvial fan[5] that had been overrun by historicmudows; authorities had ignored a hazard-zonemap that showed the potential damage to the townfrom lahars. Residents stayed inside theirdwellings to avoid the falling ash, as local ocialshad instructed them to do, not thinking that theymight be buried by the mudows.[6]The disaster gained international notoriety due inpart to a photograph taken by photographer FrankFournier of a young girl named Omayra Snchez,who was trapped beneath rubble for three days before she died.[45] Following theeruption relief workers gathered around the girl, speaking with her and listeningto her responses. She attracted the attention of the reporters at the site becauseof her sense of dignity and courage, and caused controversy when peoplewondered why the media workers had not saved her (which was impossiblewithout equipment). An appeal to the government for a pump to lower the wateraround her was left unanswered, and she succumbed to gangrene andhypothermia after 60 hours of being trapped. Her death epitomized the tragicnature of the Armero disaster she could have been saved had the government


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responded promptly and addressed the concerns over the volcano's potency.[45]The photograph earned the World Press Photo of the Year for "capturing the eventof greatest journalistic importance".[12]Two photographers from the Miami Herald won a Pulitzer Prize for photographingthe eects of the lahar.[46] Dr. Stanley Williams of Louisiana State University saidthat following the eruption, "With the possible exception of Mount St. Helens inthe state of Washington, no other volcano in the Western Hemisphere is beingwatched so elaborately."[47] In response to the eruption, the USGS Volcano CrisisAssistance Team was formed in 1986,[48] and the Volcano Disaster AssistanceProgram.[49] The volcano erupted several more times between 1985 and 1994.[10]

ControversyConcerns over the alleged negligence of local ocials to alert locals of thevolcano's threat led to controversy. The mayor of Armero (Ramon Rodriguez) andother local ocials had tried to bring the volcano's potential to the attention ofthe Colombian government, but to no avail. For months, Rodriguez appealed tovarious ocials, including congressmen and the Governor of Tolima Department.Rodriguez once referred to the volcano as a "time bomb" and told reporters thathe believed an eruption would disrupt the natural dam above Armero, resulting inoods. Despite his persistence, only one congressman managed to inquire aboutthe reality of the situation. Reports from the Colombian Minister of Mines,Minister of Defence, and Minister of Public Works "all asserted that thegovernment was aware of the risk from the volcano and was acting to protect thepopulation". The lack of responsibility for the disaster prompted lawmakers tocampaign for Tolima's governor (Eduardo Alzate Garcia) to resign. In the media,similar thoughts and questions were hotly debated. One of the most aggressivecampaigns came from a mass funeral in Ibagu for the victims, claiming that "Thevolcano didn't kill 22,000 people. The government killed them."[30]

LegacyThe volcano continues to pose a serious threat to nearby towns and villages. Ofthe threats, the one with the most potential for danger is that of small-volumeeruptions, which can destabilize glaciers and trigger lahars.[50] Although much ofthe volcano's glacier mass has retreated, a signicant volume of ice still sits atopNevado del Ruiz and other volcanoes in the RuizTolima massif. Melting just 10percent of the ice would produce lahars with a volume of up to 200 million cubicmeters similar to the lahar that destroyed Armero in 1985. In just hours, theselahars can travel up to 100 km along river valleys.[33] Estimates show that up to500,000 people living in the Combeima, Chinchina, Coello-Toche, and Gualivalleys are at risk, with 100,000 individuals being considered to be at high


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Nevado del Ruiz seen fromManizales, 2006

risk.[50] Lahars pose a threat to the nearby townsof Honda, Mariquita, Ambalema, Chinchina,Herveo, Villa Hermosa, Salgar and La Dorada.[51]Although small eruptions are more likely, thetwo-million-year eruptive history of theRuizTolima massif includes numerous largeeruptions, indicating that the threat of a largeeruption cannot be ignored.[50] A large eruptionwould have more widespread eects, including thepotential closure of Bogot's airport due toashfall.[52]As the Armero tragedy was exacerbated by thelack of early warnings,[35] unwise land use,[53] and the unpreparedness of nearbycommunities,[35] the government of Colombia created a special program, theOcina Nacional para la Atencin de Desastres (National Oce for DisasterPreparedness), now known as the Direccin de Prevencin y Atencin deDesastres (Directorate for Disaster Prevention and Preparedness)[54] to preventsuch incidents in the future. All Colombian cities were directed to promoteprevention planning to mitigate the consequences of natural disasters,[53] andevacuations due to volcanic hazards have been carried out. About 2,300 peopleliving along ve nearby rivers were evacuated when Nevado del Ruiz eruptedagain in 1989.[55] When another Colombian volcano, Nevado del Huila, erupted inApril 2008, thousands of people were evacuated because volcanologists worriedthat the eruption could be another "Nevado del Ruiz".[56]The lessons from the Armero tragedy have inspired a lahar warning system forMt. Rainier, which has a similar potential for lahars.[57]Armero was never rebuilt after the tragedy. Instead, the survivors were relocatedto the towns of Guayabal and Lrida, rendering Armero a ghost town.CommemorationsA little less than one year later, Pope John Paul II ew over Armero and thenvisited Lrida's refugee camps with Colombian President Belisario Betancur.[58]He spoke about the disaster and declared the site of Armero "holy land".[12]Although many victims of the disaster were commemorated, Omayra Sanchez inparticular was immortalized by poems, novels, and music pieces. One work(Adios, Omayra) by Eduardo Santa illustrated the girl's last days of life and hersymbolism of the catastrophe.[12] Survivors were also recognized in GermnSanta Mara Barragn's dramatized television special titled "No Morirs" (YouWill Not Die). Much of the cast was composed of victims of the tragedy who


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appeared at the cast calls to be extras.[59]

See alsoHerculaneumPompeii

Footnotes^ This was the rst hazard map ever prepared for a Colombian volcano.[17]1.

Notes^ "Nevado del Ruiz" (http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1501-02%3D). Global Volcanism Program, SmithsonianInstitution. http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1501-02%3D.Retrieved June 1, 2010.

1.

^ Schuster, Robert L. and Highland, Lynn M. (2001). Socioeconomic andEnvironmental Impacts of Landslides in the Western Hemisphere(http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2001/ofr-01-0276/), U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report01-0276. Also previously published in the Proceedings of the Third PanamericanSymposium on Landslides, July 29 to August 3, 2001, Cartagena, Colombia.Castaneda Martinez, Jorge E., and Olarte Montero, Juan, eds. Retrieved June 11,2010.

2.

^ "Wall of Mud Seals Town; 20,000 Could Be Dead" (http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=m-sTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FgYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6131,5703326). OcalaStar-Banner. November 15, 1985. Retrieved July 22, 2010.

3.

^ a b Cooke, Robert (November 20, 1985). "Facing tragedy: Not enough tears to washaway sorrow" (http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=q8wmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EQIGAAAAIBAJ&pg=947,5693562). The Miami News. Retrieved July 22, 2010.

4.

^ a b c Mileti et. al, p. 1.5.^ a b Topinka, Lyn (July 26, 2000). "Hazard-Zone Maps and Volcanic Risk"(http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Vhp/C1073/hazard_maps_risk.html). United StatesGeological Survey. Retrieved September 5, 2010.

6.

^ Mileti et. al, 1991, p. 9.7.^ a b BBC contributors (November 13, 1985). "BBC:On this day: November 13: 1985:Volcano kills thousands in Colombia" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/13/newsid_2539000/2539731.stm). British Broadcasting Corporation.Retrieved September 3, 2009.

8.

^ Mileti et. al, 1991, p. 10.9.^ a b "Nevado del Ruiz: Eruptive History" (http://www.volcano.si.edu/world10.


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/volcano.cfm?vnum=1501-02%3D%26volpage%3Derupt). Global Volcanism Program,Smithsonian Institution. http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1501-02%3D%26volpage%3Derupt. Retrieved December 13, 2008.^ "Colombia Volcanoes and Volcanics" (http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Colombia/description_colombia_volcanoes.html). United States Geological Survey. 2001.Retrieved September 3, 2008.

11.

^ a b c d Zeiderman, Austin (June 11, 2009). "Life at Risk: Biopolitics, Citizenship, andSecurity in Colombia" (http://lasa.international.pitt.edu/members/congress-papers/lasa2009/les/ZeidermanAustin.pdf). 2009 Congress of the Latin American StudiesAssociation. Retrieved July 22, 2010.

12.

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SourcesDesjarlais, Robert and Eisenberg, Leon (1996). World Mental Health:Problems and Priorities in Low-Income Countries. Oxford University PressUS. ISBN 0-19-509540-5.Mart, Joan and Ernst, Gerald (2005). Volcanoes and the Environment.Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-59254-2.Mileti, Dennis S., Bolton, Patricia A., Fernandez, Gabriel, and Updike,Randall G. (1991). The Eruption of Nevado Del Ruiz Volcano Colombia, SouthAmerica, November 13, 1985 (http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=1784&page=92). Washington, D.C.: Commissionon Engineering and Technical Systems (National Academy Press).ISBN 0-309-04477-4.Villegas, Henry (September 2003). "Display of the Nevado del Ruiz VolcanicHazard Map Using GIS" (http://www.geocarto.com.hk/cgi-bin/pages1/sep03/display.pdf). Geocarto International (Geocarto International Centre) 18 (3):513. doi:10.1080/10106040308542276 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1080%2F10106040308542276). Retrieved July 20, 2010.

External links(Spanish) Armando Armero (http://www.armandoarmero.com/), website forthe project to commemorate and remember Armero(Spanish) Looking for adopted children from Armero's tragedy:http://ninosarmerocolombia.blogspot.com/ -->armandoarmero.comVideo about emergency response to the tragedy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XMS-quxdGg) (15 minutes), Pan American Health Organization(hosted on YouTube)Colombia's Mortal Agony (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1050626-1,00.html) (by George Russell), article from 2005 in TIMEmagazineInformation about Armero (http://crismatt.tripod.com/armero) (tripod.com)(Spanish) Text of the prayer made by Pope John Paul II in July 1986 at thememorial for the victims (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/1986/july/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19860706_preghiera-armero_sp.html) (Vatican website)Getty image of Pope John Paul II praying at the memorial (http://nhl.msg.com/photo/08A67mzdNbcm9?q=Pope+John+Paul+II) (nhl.msg.com)Collection of photographs of the area and the memorials(http://luismanuelsilva.info/photos/categories.php?cat_id=1&page=1), fromLuis Manuel Silva

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