Since there was no food in the house I had no breakfast. I also woke up late so I didn't shower. I'd also stayed up late writing about Saturday so I was tired. Not enough sleep this weekend- The grade nines didn't really rag me but said they saw me at the bullfight with my girlfriend yesterday. I don't think they put together that she works at the school. I spent the morning with the grade sevens and nines working through the last of the undecided science fair topics. I also checked my email and wrote to Sarah, Marko, Mary and Jorin. Jorin isn't coming to Colombia because Dustin got off work and they are going to India for a month. Too bad. I also had time to quickly show Mercy my web page before we went to have lunch. After lunch I sorted out my reinforcement tests for Thursday and started typing my Peru journal.
All of a sudden everything started shaking. Not just shaking but jolting like crazy. I've never seen or felt anything like it. For a moment (a millisecond?) I didn't react but then I was up and out the door of the computer room. I'm not sure if I'm remembering correctly but there was a terrible, loud rumbling noise and everything in the room shook, especially the metal doors. As I was in the doorway going out I heard a crash behind me. It was a huge fluorescent light fixture hitting the ground. It wouldn't of landed on me but if the other light fixture had fallen I would have been under it. By the time I was outside, it had all stopped. It was probably all of three or four seconds. I figured that it had been a pretty strong earthquake but very short and not such a big deal. I was going to go about my business. I then saw however that the middle school kids were coming out of the other classrooms and many were really upset and crying. I realised I had a job to do and helped direct them to the field where we'd arranged for similar emergencies. Since I had a spare, I didn't have a group to supervise. Leigh had the grade nines under control but I realised that half the grade eight class was missing and that there was no teacher with them. They were also not taking this very seriously. I had to yell at them to get in line and to shut up. The rest of the class slowly wandered up and I discovered that two of them were missing. One was in the office with her mother and Beatriz. They had gone back in after the quake had stopped. The other girl had also been with her mother and the kids said she'd left. I discovered that Deiner was supposed to be with the grade eight class but he was nowhere to be found. I was so mad at him. When I finally found him, I balled him out for lack of responsibility and that he had to be with his class, to count them and make sure they were all safe. Also, the kids (and Beatriz) should know they must go to the field and line up to be counted so we know they are all there and okay. I went up to see Mercedes and before I got there (I saw she was okay) I ran into Orlando. He'd pulled Paula out of a room; she hadn't reacted. None of the rooms fell in except one aluminium roof of a pre-school class. In other rooms things only fell over and in my class the only thing which fell over was a plastic cup. The pre-school class only suffered minor damage. Nobody was hurt except one boy who bumped into someone else. Clemencia couldn't get her class door open. I'm glad mine was open. Mercy said her kids fell forward under the force of the quake. Many of the kids were crying and even teachers were panicking and in hysterics. To me it didn't seem so bad. There were two weak replica tremors within the hour. We shouted at the kids to get out of the classrooms and the cafeteria but these were not very serious and nothing even fell over.
Suddenly all the parents started arriving to get their kids. Most were in a panic and we got news that Armenia and Circasia were in extremely bad shape. It was the panicking parents which really caused trouble here because then the kids and teachers panicked. Apparently this was a very serious case and the city was a disaster, buildings down and everything. Once most of the kids were gone, Mercy and I got on a bus and headed out. It was very slow going because we had to stop at each house and insure that the kid's parents were there before leaving them. We noticed mainly minor damage to most of the buildings in the north. Some pretty serious stuff but only noticeable if we looked closely. Only the Coomeva building in the north was very damaged. One whole block of the second floor just collapsed. Martha, the art teacher was on the bus as we went by it. She got really upset because her pregnant cousin works in that building and on that floor. Mercy and I got out at Presto and started walking because the school bus was just too slow. We had to get to her house to find out if her mother and daughter were okay. It was two hours walking away and there was absolutely no transportation of any kind. I then realised that William (who we saw go by on a the back of a motorcycle) could take her on his bike. We got home and our building was okay, a few cracks, some lost plaster on external walls and a brick or two. The garage wall is a little cracked and a cheap aluminium ceiling fell down. There were a lot of broken dishes which fell right out of the cupboards, the fridge was sideways and my T.V. was teetering on the edge of the table, just about to fall. Everything else was okay.
William left with Mercy and after what seemed like a long time finally came back. He said everyone was fine, the mother and daughter got out with only a few scratches. He then took me downtown and to their house. Along the way we saw some real destruction. William’s old building was in bad shape. It was standing and his apartment on the fourth floor was okay but the second floor was a mess. What happens is the higher floor sway and the middle and lower floors suffer the stress and are more susceptible to damage. As we got more downtown, things started getting worse. Whole sides of buildings were gone, rubble in the streets, electric poles down and some buildings reduced to a pile of rubble and garbage. We arrived at Mercy’s house. The walls were standing but full of huge cracks. Everyone was outside, mainly neighbours. The rest of her family arrived later in her father’s taxi. Basically the whole house is crooked and the door won’t close. We looked through the front window into her sister Milena’s room. The back wall had fallen in. We also went upstairs in the neighbours’ house and could see into Mercy’s room. We didn’t dare go into her house at all though. Apparently Mercy’s mother was upstairs bathing and Kamila was downstairs. When the earthquake started Kamila tried to go upstairs. Her grandmother yelled to her not to come up as the wall fell on the stairway almost on top of her. Her grandmother basically jumped over the fallen wall, grabbed Kamila (and the dog) and tried to get out. By this time the door was bent out of shape and wouldn’t open. Fortunately someone kicked in the door from outside and they got out okay. Kamila’s arms are scratched but she’s okay. She’s still pretty scared though. The ground near her house had opened up. There was a big crack in the earth and an area actually dropped down to a lower level.
William drove off with Ana to go to their aunt's place. Mercy and I got some drinks and aspirin and hung out with the rest of the family for a while. After waiting for a while, we decided to go upstairs in the neighbour's house and try to get a few things out of Mercy's room. Mercy, Milena, William and I went up. We had waited until now because we were still afraid of replica tremors. We were just entering the upstairs bedroom of the neighbour's house (in fact William had one foot over the broken wall into Mercy's bedroom) when another tremor began. This was a serious quake, much stronger than the other after tremors. During the earthquake I wasn't scared, I was on the ground floor and outside in a safe place very quickly. This time I was scared. We were now in a half demolished house in the middle of an earthquake with a very narrow, steep and half gone staircase. I quickly started to go down the stairs but William yelled at me to just stand in a doorframe. The three of them and the owner of the house who was emptying things from another room huddled under the three doorframes. The people outside started screaming. William yelled that we were all alright and then we went out. What timing. I really had the shakes now. Very scary feeling stuck in a dangerous place. I wasn't actually scared while it was happening, but after we were out and safe I really felt the shock. We then all decided to move from the closed in area of the neighbourhood and moved out to the main street.
William and I headed back to our apartment. On the way we passed by Orlando's house. Everyone was alright although their roof had fallen in and their house was destroyed. They were out in the street but Orlando had gone to the Brazilia neighbourhood to check on his sister. They heard that that neighbourhood was levelled. At the apartment we pulled out the mattresses and found a few candles, some food, and some jack-knives. I took my passport and my U.S. cash in my money belt. You never know. We then took whatever food and sweaters we could find and returned to Mercy's house. They were sitting across the street to be in a more open place. Apparently while we were gone Uriel, Kamila's grandfather, came by with her father. Everyone was happy that they were alright. Uriel will help with the house tomorrow. Kamila's father was playing pool and was loosing so he was saved the loss. Mercy thinks he only came because his father got him to.
At 9:00 p.m. William took Milena and I on the bike back to our place and then went back to pick up Mercy and Kamila. At this point I finally was able to phone home. The lines were really busy but it was easier calling Canada than another place in Armenia. Ma and Pa were of course worried sick, they were sure I was dead. They'd known since 5:30 about the earthquake. They even knew that the police station and the fire station were destroyed. Most likely they had more news than us! Debby was there and many people had called. I told them everything was fine here for now. We set up the mattresses in the living room and lay down for a while with both our front door and the front door of the building open. Shoes, flashlights and everything ready in case we had to get out fast. It was not very relaxing. Mercy, Kamila and I stretched out on one mattress, Milena and William on the other. At about midnight Milena and William were whispering and we were dozing. Suddenly William yelled "ya, ya!" and we grabbed our stuff and ran out. William yelled "la niña" like Mercy would forget her daughter! We sat outside on the curb for a while and then William and I went back in, got the mattresses and brought them out. This tremor was very minor but we thought it would be safer outside. We slept out there (I did anyway) for a couple of hours and then moved back inside because it was about to rain. I stayed up for a while because I was very nervous about falling asleep inside the apartment in the event that there was another tremor. I eventually slept and was fine until morning.
January 26
This morning we tried to put together a little food and organised the place. Milena, Mercy, Kamila and I then walked over to Jody's. She gave us some rice and scrambled eggs and also some salad and fruit for William. She told us that some of the Canadians were in a hotel and that she didn't know where Leigh, Brenda and Caroline were. She was very worried because Alvaro's family hadn't found one of their relatives yet. She also lent Kamila some clothes. We then headed back to my apartment. Milena took Kamila home and Mercy and I went up to her aunts for some garbage bags to take stuff out of her house. On the way we saw that a man was packing donuts in Dunkin' Donuts. The place was closed although one side window was gone and blocked by rubble to prevent robbers from getting in. Through the window we asked the man if we could have some donuts and he gave us some. On the was y back from her aunt's I saw people lined up at the bank machine. The machine was working but two people ahead of me it ran out of money so we are still left with only $20.00 Canadian to our name. We then picked up some coke and went home.
William took Mercy and Kamila and then Milena to their house. Apparently they'd taken a lot out of there house already and were storing it at their neighbour's house. When William came back for me I was on the phone with Olga. She said she was going to go to the school to get food and water and would get some for us as well as lend us a gas stove. She'd been really worried yesterday because Daniel had been in the government building on the fourth floor. He was alone so he just ran down the stairs and got out. When she was downtown, she saw the building. It was across the street from Conavi Bank and next to Plaza Bolivar. It was standing but leaning precariously. She drove around the block and ten minutes later went by it again. This time the building was in ruins. It basically just fell. I saw it today. It's basically a two story pile of rubble in the middle of Fourteenth Avenue. Olga was really upset at what's been going on although she hasn't lost anybody.
William didn't think he had enough gas to get us to Mercy's house and back to the apartment again. We went out and managed to get gas for the bike. Now at least we are mobile and can look around the city for our basic needs. We tried about ten bank machines with no luck. We then drove downtown and it just looked like a war zone, streets blocked by rubble everywhere. We finally got to Mercy's place and stayed there for a while. Cecilia arrived with Paula and told us that Olga had gone to our house with the food. We left and went home. I couldn't reach Olga by phone so we finally drove up to her house. We sat with her and Daniel for a while talking. Their house is okay although the roof need repair. A few housed in their neighbourhood are down including one which is fine on one side but has no back wall. Supposedly we will have to pay the school back for the supplies we took but there is a list of stuff. Otherwise, the food at the school would just go bad anyway. Jaime approved it. He hasn't contacted me but is at the farm near the school. His building is damaged along with LuzMa's, Milagros', Orlando's, Martha Posada and Magda Patricia's. Orlando told us that Clemencia's place and her father and son are fine.
William and I took the stove (two by two feet) home on the bike. Even with the stove we needed Mercy's gas canisters and the connection piece which I was hoping Jody could lend me. We then went to Jody's and picked up a big bunch of food and a five gallon water bottle which Olga had left there for us. She told us Alvaro's cousin was killed. She gave me a lift with the stuff. William went to get the girls. As Jody dropped me off the power came back on in our apartment. Miracle of miracles! This meant dinner, boiled water, light, refrigeration and radio and T.V. news. I also called home again. They say the quake was only 6.4 on the Richter scale but I'm sure it was higher. The death count for Armenia alone is over 450 people and in the area over 650. As soon as William arrived with Milena and Kamila I ran up to the bank. Power meant bank machine! Conavi didn't work (it was still empty) and neither did Concasa. Davivienda was working and I managed to take out $100.00. One minute later the power went out again! I was lucky to get that money. We now have most of our basic needs. All, for now. The power was still working at our apartment, it only went out on the main street. Ma and Pa were happy to hear from me again. They said everyone called including Julian and Evan. They want me to contact the Canadian consulate or the American one and I got my U.S. passport number from them just in case. They are also worried about the health situation although I told them I have safe water and am being careful. The girls came back again in the evening to stay over again and William made soup for all of us. We lent the girls some clothes and I gave Kamila the stuffed Eeyore I had as she'd lost all her dolls. I think she needed it more than I did. We even had to lend them shoes.
Today I saw a police van go by with four coffins piled up in a hap hazard way. Our neighbour brought a dead relative upstairs in a coffin. One man was arrested in town for selling his father's coffin after removing his body. A few stores were open today selling a few simple things, there were huge lines at the gas stations and supermarkets which were only allowing a few people to enter at a time. Army and aid officials were posted at many street corners, police and fire departments from all over the country were present. The jail has also been destroyed and the prisoners fled. I'm sure they are concerned about their families too. The scariest thing is that part of the bull ring fell down as well as the fire station. I was not only at the bullring in the part that fell down yesterday, but after, we went to the fire station (second floor) to visit Kamila's grandfather. Talk about lucky.
If things don't continue to get better or if health and food are a problem William and I might just get on the bike and go to Neiva (his home town). We heard on the news that the road to Ibague (and thus Bogota and Neiva) is open. I think it might be good and useful to stay here though. The school is closed for the week but maybe for a month. The teachers have better things to do right now (like put back together their homes and lives) than teach, and how many kids would come now? It might be good to look after some kids while their parents put their lives back together though. Aid is coming in from all over Colombia and the world. It sounds like there are just tons of homeless. Mercy's family was renting their house and the house they own is okay. It is incredible to be at the centre of an emergency. It's hard to believe it's real. At my apartment and at school where almost nothing happened it seems like it is all a dream. Weird.
January 27
We woke up at about 7:30 or 8:00 after sleeping really well and cuddling with Mercy. After eating some crackers, William and I went off on the bike. The women decided to clean the apartment and wash our clothes! Not that I wanted them to but they did anyway. Jody was going to bring her computer over to our place to try and get on the net because we had power and they didn't. We went first to Calarca, the second largest city after Armenia. It was no problem getting there and is only ten minutes by bike. That cool, orange house build on the top of a hill that I always wanted to photograph is now destroyed. We got to Calarca and found Miguel Angel and Olga Lucia's house. The building was in bad shape and they weren't there but a man said everyone got out fine. Olga went with her family and Miguel went with his wife and her mother to a farm. Calarca is a wreck however. Every building is wrecked. We saw dust coming out of a building and it was starting to fall in. The church steeple was crooked and looked like it was about to fall.
We finally left and slowly made our way through Armenia asking for Carlos' building. Basically travelling in either city was an exercise in weaving through blocked streets, closed streets, incredible traffic and over piles of rubble. We finally found Carlos' building which was in bad shape. William went up but Carlos wasn't there. Everyone was okay in that building and the man said Carlos had left with his wife. We left a note for him. We then decided to try to get down to the stadium to check on Monica and maybe Carlos Julio's girlfriend and her family. The going was really rough because most of the roads were blocked and now there was tons of traffic. Many people were moving stuff and tons of people were trying to leave the city. It was just a huge traffic jam. We had to go up on sidewalks, over rubble, under tape which was closing the road, along dirt roads etc. It basically took us an hour weaving through traffic, doubling back several times and going in circles to get to the stadium. It looked like it was in decent shape. We found Monica's house; the whole front wall was gone. She and her family had left. We decided to try to go home which was easier said than done. It took us a long time mucking through exhaust filled traffic. We ran into Mencho who was on her way to Cali. Everything was okay with her family except that their building will have to be evacuated. We went past one building which the police were guarding. People had been looting it and now it was about to collapse so we had to turn off the bike motor and walk it by. At one point we couldn't get through the road so we went right through El Bosque (a park), on the paths and down the ramps. We went by the Plaza de Toros and sure enough hardly anything remained. We finally made it to the Armenia highway and were able to get home. The "highway" median was filled with home made huts of bamboo, sticks, plastic and sheets. Most of the buildings on the road were uninhabitable.
We arrived home and the girls had prepared some lunch for us. Jody had brought the computer over but hadn't set it up because we didn't have a three prong plug. I was of course able to fix that up. I called Olga and she said her mother was coming from Manizales for the kids and could bring us food so make a list. Leigh called from school. She and all the Canadians (Brenda excepted) are going to Cali (covered by Jaime) to some farm to sit there for a few weeks. I think a couple want to go to Canada for a while and then come back. I went with William to school to talk to Jaime and figure out what I'm going to do. The sickness and disease is supposedly starting and food will be hard to get so even though we have water, power, a house and cable it's best we leave. At school there were a whole crew of firemen and firewomen and trucks from Cali using the school as their base. One of them was Jaime's brother. Another man said he'd been in Popayan after the earthquake there in '82 and said the Armenia quake was worse. Jaime said the Canadians were really freaked and wanted to leave. He felt my going to Neiva with William was just as good as going to Cali (farther and safer) and that I'd be happier than sitting for two weeks with the other Canadians. He gave us $60.00 to help us out.
We went back to the apartment and hung with the girls, watched T.V., a bit of a movie which no one really watched, made popcorn and sat through a downpour. Mercy's parents came by and her mother and sister and dog came in. I think they'd like to stay here but the father doesn't seem to want to. I also talked to Alexandra on the phone and she said Robert was using the truck to move people but might be able to help Mercy later. I also talked to Alvaro about the computer, leaving for Neiva and the situation. He offered to drive us to the terminal (if it was possible) or take us to Calarca to get a bus but I think it will be easiest to get out of town and around debris on the bike. Uncomfortable but at least possible. He also warned me about thieves. Several had been sighted in the neighbourhood so we were to be careful with the windows and doors. People wearing white T-shirts were helping to guard the neighbourhoods. I also called Olga and got her on her cell phone in her car driving to Manizales. She was going to stay in Armenia and help but decided it was just too dangerous and had to leave. Daniel is still at the house. She told me not to go out at all at night. She was in tears the whole time. Poor thing. William and I packed up my black bag, I wrote a bit and we had hot chocolate and crackers. Olga Lucia called. She's okay and talked to Mercy for a while. I got the computer running but couldn't get a telephone line for the internet. I also called home and told Ma and Pa that I was leaving and where I'd be.
At night there was a ruckus outside. People were down behind our building. There were flashlights and gunshots. Most likely they were thieves and someone was shooting at them, a real gun battle. They couldn't get into our building from either the front (barred windows and doors) or the back (too high) but we thought it wise to stay away from the windows anyway. Things settled down and we went back to sleep. Mercy´s been so good to me and she, her daughter and sister have really been family for William and I through all of this. It's hard and I'm sad to leave them but at least I can leave them our apartment with all the food, water, energy and of course roof.
At about 7:00 William and I got on the bike and left. It was a little sad leaving our city behind us in ruins. First we had to find gas. No one was working at the two stations near our place so we went up north towards the school and easily got gas. We then back tracked to Calarca and stopped for oil. It took nine hours for the whole trip although it was only seven hours of actual driving.
January 29
I saw news about Armenia today on T.V.. It was really bad. Violence in he streets, looting, robbery, police firing guns etc. I know this is in the centre and south but it could and eventually will spread north... Also people are now wearing masks because of the smell of rotting, dead bodies and disease. Now that I'm out of Armenia and see all this bad stuff on T.V. it is hitting me harder how bad things are, how sad it is and how lonely I am without my other Colombian friends and my home. It is really horrible.
January 30
I spoke to Mercy today. They are all fine and have moved stuff to their other house but there are already three families staying there so her parents are staying with a friend and she, Milena, Ana and Kamila are at our place. Milena has started working at the Clinic again. Apparently there were two more replicas or tremors today. There have been forty-two since Monday's major quake. They have food but the water is no longer running. They have bottled water to drink but nothing to wash with. They still have power. I think they can get a supply of food every three days but don't know for how long that will last. Luz Estella told her we were paid today so we'll all have money. There will be a co-ordination meeting on Wednesday to decide what will happen at school. They are talking about opening the school again on February eighth but maybe the Canadians will either not be wanted for a while or will not be back right away. I expect there will be very few middle school students and without Canadians we have no teaching department. William and I could organise some games.
I talked to Mercy again today. They are still having replicas in Armenia. It seems they have the thieves under control and are getting the aid organised as well as starting to build a police station and fire station. Turns out we are starting school next Monday, but without most of the Canadians. Apparently almost all went to Canada! I think they are coming back but what a wallet drain for one or two weeks. Only Linda and I will be there for work on Monday.
We arrived in Armenia by bus at about 3:30 p.m.. The downtown area was cordoned off so the bus had to detour and ended up dropping us off right near my apartment. The Coliseo supermarket was open and functioning normally so we were able to buy food. I talked to Olga and apparently we work tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. and students are coming. I don’t know what we’re doing and I doubt there will be many from middle school. Only Linda and I are here out of the ten Canadians Science Fair? It either has to be postponed or cancelled. I also am not ready to teach the later units. Olga said she has tons to tell me and things aren’t too good. Traffic is ridiculous in the north because all the banks moved their offices up there. Also the board of directors is having a meeting tomorrow afternoon about the future plans for this year. Maybe admitting students from other schools.
February 8
Strange to be back at school but great to see everyone. Missing were Martha the librarian, Martha the social studies teacher and eight Canadians. I talked to Orlando and saw Olga, Jody and Milagros. Middle school met in the Plazoleta. We had fifty-eight of the usual 100 students which wasn’t bad but we were missing five teachers so it was a tough day. I took the nines for the first hour and a half. They decided they wanted to talk. We chatted about the earthquake and their experiences. No one lost family although a few lost their houses. Seems a lot of them volunteered at the Red Cross and in other ways in the last week. Many of the parents have lost stuff and have special needs now but many of the teachers also have lost stuff and need their money. The earthquake is no reason or excuse to abuse our rights. It would be the end of the school. Basically we were afraid they might try to cut our pay. Jody filled me in on what happened with the Canadians. They were told they had to leave Armenia but were not given a place or a way of getting there. Some student’s mother volunteered her farm outside of Cali and someone else offered a mini-van to transport them there. Once they got there they had problems too. I didn’t quite get everything because the board started they’re meeting. Seems like they got there, were very scared still of I don't know what and then the Canadian Embassy stepped in. They were then afraid of being kidnapped by guerrillas and went home to Canada. They left their passports here and the embassy paid their plane fare. Strange. I don't know if they’ll come back or not. I'll get details from Jody tomorrow. The board basically just gave us a pep talk and mentioned sacrifices but not what sacrifices. We will have to wait and see if they tell us more later. For this month the kids are only coming from 8:15 until 1:00. Olga told me they are going to make a survey to track all the school's families, if they have a home, a job, have lost family, sent children out of the city etc. The idea is to have an education based questionnaire and to evaluate the overall situation of the school.
February 9
After school Mercy and I caught a cab and went to her place. A very long ride right through downtown. I told her I was sorry but I'm going to stay away from downtown from now on, even if that means not going to her house. The place was really small with two large rooms, one which was uninhabitable and just storing their stuff, a living room, kitchen, washroom and another small bedroom. Tiny for four adults and a kid and a fifth adult when Ana returns from Ibague. Mercy and Milena are sharing a tiny single bed. The other room has a crack in the wall which goes right through to the outside. The rest of the house is okay.
February 10
I woke up last night after having a terrible nightmare. I dreamt that I was desperately trying to get out of the disaster zone and finally did. It was impossible to communicate with my family and then I was able to see Grandma and Ma and Pa. Then I went home (but it was Armenia) and then there was another earthquake, not quite as hard as the real one had been but much longer. I was really scared. You know how real dreams can feel. I don’t remember my dreams very often so this was strange. I woke up not knowing if there had been another replica while I was sleeping. I decided there hadn’t because William, who is a light sleeper, was still sleeping. I couldn’t sleep for a while. I guess subconsciously I am scared being here and of an earthquake happening at night.
At lunch today we had a staff meeting. Several other bilingual schools in the country are donating money to us. The money is to be used to help the teachers. A committee will be organised to deal with allocation of funds. Some of the money may be used to insure we are paid. The problem is that some other schools in the country are offering free tuition to students from Armenia. We don't want to lose all our students because the school would fall apart. We are also being supplied with groceries and those who need it, kitchen supplies, beds, help moving things etc. Mercy and I went to the university today to see about her registering for this term. A few of the old buildings are in bad shape and one of the new ones...ironically the faculty of engineering.
February 11
Today I went to the post office. It is now located in a shopping mall much closer to my house. We are now able to send mail and receive special delivery. Regular delivery will begin again in about ten days. There wasn't any mail for me yet. We found out today that Brenda isn't coming back. That makes sense as she is six months pregnant. The rest sound like they are coming back but we don't know when yet.
February 12
Seems like Dave is coming back tomorrow and Jean, Andy and Heath on Wednesday. The others I think are coming back at the end of the month. Jaime needs the Canadian teachers because he is afraid the parents otherwise wouldn't want to pay the full tuition. A parent called and was outraged that she would have to pay full tuition because she'd lost a lot of stuff as a result of the earthquake. Jaime told her that our teachers also have lost homes, possessions and family and all they have left is their jobs and were relying on that salary to get through this. Apparently the Canadians were really freaked out in Cali. The Canadian embassy had bought them tickets and wanted to hold their passports until they paid back the tickets. They also had to pay $35.00 Canadian for a sheet of paper with their picture on it. Jaime talked to the guy and he allowed them to at least take their passports with them. They had originally gone to Palmira, a town twenty minutes from Cali. The embassy found out where they were and sent in the Colombian army! Supposedly the Canadian embassy had Palmira on their map of guerrilla danger zones and advised them to leave Colombia. The director of Colegio Simon Bolivar in Cali (an American) without having been to Armenia and without knowing anything about the true situation started telling the Canadians that it would be six months before Gimnasio Ingles reopened. Jaime told them it would be only two weeks but the tickets were already bought. Well the school was open this week and it was the best possible thing to do for the teachers and the students.
At 1:30 we had a meeting with our section and the psychologist. Our section was very small today. It was really good because we didn't just talk about our experiences but how we felt and feel now, what we think, and how are we moving on. Robinson lost everything and is living with two other families. His girlfriend left for Bogota so he didn't have her companionship. We also talked about the loss of personal space and security when you no longer have your own home. Nelson and his wife are expecting a baby and he lost all the work and preparation they'd done in their house. They had many offers to stay with families and friends out of town but after, say a month, where do you go? It's no good staying with someone indefinitely, there is no way of getting your life back on track. How do you get on with life. Miguel had to walk from Presto to Calarca, two hours, not knowing if his wife was alive. They showered under a broken pipe with great joy because they finally could at least shower. Of course we all were just glad to be alive and that our friends and family were okay but then the next step is to look at our. They give us our security, comfort, peace of mind and our general living situation. We get comfort from having an apartment and things which make life easier. First you're glad your apartment didn't fall on you, then you're wishing it hadn't fallen at all. Jorge was thinking of selling his bike and going to the states. The situation for us (William and I) of course was a little different because we are not from here and didn't lose anything. WE still feel sad and shocked. I felt restless and had to do something so I spent most of those days helping others. I was sad when I left Armenia and sad when I returned. Once I had left the city it felt unreal, as if it were a dream. People in Neiva went on with their lives as if nothing had happened. In all the discussions Beatriz was really good.
In the evening I was over at Jody and Alvaro's. Alvaro told me that the government building which fell down had 80 cm concrete pillars but in reality they were hollow. There was only 20 cm of concrete around a 60 cm empty box. No wonder if all fell down. He thinks the quake was the same in all parts of Armenia although I've heard that some areas where more dangerous than others. Maybe it was just the quality of building construction. In some neighbourhoods a whole row of houses built by one person fell, and right next to them a whole row built by someone else were standing. Some areas were on fault lines and others weren't. They say the whole quake was between 19 and 32 seconds from the time it slowly began and ended. I swear it was only four seconds and came and went really quickly.
February 20
I had just drifted off to sleep when the tape I was listening to ended and the autostop stirred me. I wasn't completely asleep when I heard a rumble and things started shaking a bit. It felt like a gentle swaying on a boat. I got up and calmly went to my door frame. By then it had stopped. William at the same time got up. WE were a bit shaken (excuse the pun) and though tired we weren't ready to go back to sleep right away. William had first felt a stronger one and then right after, the gentle one which I had felt. I watched T.V. for awhile and then went back to sleep.
February 25
I was in class today sitting on my desk when there was another tremor. Pretty hard but short. We quickly left the classroom but it was already over. Nothing much. We all went back to work. Funny, today is the 25th, the one month anniversary of the big earthquake. I think we were all looking at 1:20 p.m. with a little fear. Funny thing is, I noticed this morning that the cows were lying down. Supposedly the cows all lie down when there is going to be an earthquake.
February 26
There was another tremor last night at 1:00 a.m.. I slept through it. William said it was just as well. Very light and brief. They say these tremors are good because the earth is settling and it will be safer here. Scientists were first predicting that they would last a week, then a month, then several months. They may continue for the whole year. I personally believe there is a huge hole on the other side of the earth (somewhere in the Pacific Ocean) and earth is just flowing out of it and we will all just zoom through the whole into outer space. On a serious note, there seems to be all kinds of disasters happening now everywhere on earth and in Colombia; earthquakes, volcanoes, flooding, storms. Hmm. I think it's the end of the world.
March 12
This afternoon we had a really interesting lecture with a geologist. He said it was the acceleration which is damaging in an earthquake. This one was at 5 m/s2, considered very strong. The slow, low waves affect the buildings and the high fast ones the houses. That's why most houses here were severely affected but the buildings less so. The low waves travel further so here, close to the epicentre, it was mainly high waves. The actual strength was 6.3 on the Richter scale but that can be deceiving because it was very superficial (near the surface). Ad I figured, it was relatively short, only eight seconds officially, the first four seconds or so you can't feel so my estimation of only feeling three or four seconds was accurate. There is another scale of surface damage which goes up to 12.0. On average this earthquake was 8.0. There were, however, areas which suffered little damage (5.0), slight damage (6.0 in the north where I live), more damage (7.0 near the university and downtown), serious damage (8.0 the fire station area), and complete devestation (9.0 and 10.0 in the south). It was very strange to have such a spread, 5.0 to 10.0. Normally if the average was 8.0 there would be areas of 7.0 to 9.0. Why? It could be because of many land filled sites, rock versus dirt as well as shoddy construction.
The geologist said there is a seismic building code but it was only instituted in 1984 after the Popayan quake so many buildings don't have it. Of 50 buildings which fell downtown, only one lived up to the standards. Statistics say (and years of observation) that the frequency of another strong earthquake like this will be in 150 or more years. I pointed out that these were only statistics and averages. Another one could happen next month or next year. Who knows? He acknowledged this. He described the types of waves in an earthquake. The first and fastest moving waves are the compression waves. Since they are refracted by the earth, they go in an arc and result in the up and down movement. The slower sine waves move us side to side. Like thunder and lightening, the difference in arrival time between the two can be used to calculate the distance to the epicentre. In this case they were almost simultaneous...we were very close to the epicentre. Also, although the usual fault is 100 km below the surface, this was superficial, only 17 km down. It is very hard to predict earthquakes. In California every time there is a quake it is a different fault than the one scientists were predicting. The main fault here which they are predicting to move soon still hasn't.
Is this it? Or is there more? Was this quake the principal one or a precursor. In (I don't remember when) there was a 7.0 quake (it was deep down so it wasn't dangerous) but the day before there was a 6.5 precursor, stronger on the Richter scale than the quake on the 25th. The replicas are important to determine if it was a precursor or the main event. If the replicas decrease in magnitude and frequency in a regular pattern, it was the principal quake. If they are irregular, speed up, go on for a long time or stop suddenly, it could mean it was a precursor and another stronger quake is coming. Supposedly they are now occurring every 36 hours (I felt one yesterday and last week). They eventually will be so small that we won't be able to feel them. There are hundreds of tremors every year that we just don't feel. The Pacific plate is moving at 20 cm/year! The information now shows that the quake on the 25th as the principal quake. Some believe the two faults (the deep and the superficial) are not related. But with the energy release it is hard to believe the other one is not at all affected. The main faults are in our area among the Andes chains.
Earthquake Photos