Julio Anthar Jiménez Rodarteadded a note 8 years ago
Nevado del Ruiz
Thirty-one years ago today was one of the saddest days in Colombian coffee region.
On November 13th, 1985, the Nevado del Ruiz volcano had a major eruption. It had been active for a year long and it finally erupted violently.
But the eruptions on November 14th were far more destructive. It caused several mudslides and flows of lava from the crater. The ice in the volcano's summit melted and mixed with the other flows and hit the town of Chinchina and later the city of Armero.
Local geologists and from other countries were studying the activity of the volcano since several months before. They warned the authorities about the possibility of a very big eruption, but nothing was done.
Finally, the volcano exploded as they feared. There were more than twenty thousand people killed, though some say they were more than twenty-five thousand.
Omaira Sánchez was a thirteen year old girl from the city of Armero who was buried half her body in the wash from the volcano. Though they could reach, talk and stay with her, there was nothing they could do to save her and she passed away two days later.
The Nevado del Ruiz volcano is located in Central Colombia, between the Caldas and Tolima Departments, it is the northernmost of the Andes volcanoes belt.
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