There are some events in history that remind us of our vulnerability and the power that nature has over us. We might have learned how to tame certain aspects of nature and even destroyed it. But in the end, no matter how much technology we have, we’re still unable to beat nature’s will. That’s the case with events like earthquakes, where science and technology haven’t been able to create an effective system to predict them. But what happens with other types of disasters, such as hurricanes, tsunamis, or volcanic eruptions, which specialists can predict with some certainty and alert a determined population? Worst of all, what happens when governments are careless about the warnings and thus a complete lack of communication and organization results in the loss of the lives of thousands of people?
That’s basically what happened in Colombia in 1985, when this heartbreaking image was taken. The girl in the image was Omayra Sánchez, a thirteen-year-old girl found covered to her neck in mud. The photo was taken by the French photographer Frank Fournier on November 16 of that year, three days after the catastrophe that devastated several towns, turning Armero, Omayra’s hometown, into a massive graveyard. But what happened? During the last months of 1984, the seismic activity near the Nevado del Ruiz, a volcano, had increased, alarming specialists who immediately started analyzing several eruptions. By September of the following year, they knew the volcano had awakened and threatened to erupt in the next months. Specialists designed evacuation routes and maps to help the population abandon the place. However, Colombia’s government was going through tough moments, and this issue wasn’t a priority for them. Thus they hindered the spread of this useful information.
Still wanting to do something before it was too late, a map was published in the local newspaper, but unfortunately it wasn’t very clear. It showed areas in different color codes without saying what they meant, and the scales didn’t quite correspond to the real distribution of the country. To sum up, the map was useless, and it wasn’t even handed out through all the affected areas. Now, why did the government ignored all these signals? On November 6, a group of guerrilla fighters took the parliament house in Bogota, bringing up the terrible political and social instability of the country. A week after that, on the night of November 13, the volcano erupted.
The lava that erupted from the volcano got mixed with a huge mass of ice and ran at a high speed towards the rivers connected to the mountain. This resulted in mud landslides that covered the nearby towns, being Armero the one that basically disappeared under the debris. Let’s go back to Omayra. When the movement of the mud ended, thousands of people had died trapped under the mud. That was the case of this girl’s father, aunt, and presumably her little brother. When neighbors of the town, television reporters, and a very reduced rescue squad arrived, they tried taking the girl out of the puddle, but her legs were trapped under some stones and other objects. One of the rescuers dived in to see if he could free her, but he realized she wasn’t only trapped between stones, but there were also some corpses that made it impossible for her to get out. With a very serene and mature countenance, Omayra faced her fate and told them that she was sure she was standing right on the body of her aunt.
They tried so many things to rescue this girl that caught the attention of the world. Pulling her out was out of the table, since they claimed that pulling too hard could permanently damage her spine and legs. The density of the water mixed with mud made it almost impossible to move the objects underneath. So, they requested some special equipment to suck all the water from the puddle and take off the stones and objects obstructing her legs. During the more than 60 hours that she was trapped, and alive, she proved to know exactly what was happening with her. Her case was documented all over the world. Her statements are heartbreaking and make you want to dive into the puddle and do anything to help her. As you saw in the title, one of the most moving moments while trying to rescue her was when she asked the rescuers to go rest for a bit, so that they can start fresh their rescuing works the next morning.
Omayra is only one face of the 20,000 people who died in that village alone that disappeared under the mud. She’s also the face of strength, composure, and serenity against adversity. But at the same time, her case represents the government’s negligence and complete disregard towards a disaster that was predicted two months before and cataloged as one of the four most devastating ones in the last 500 years.
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For more stories check out the following:
The Story Behind The Tragic Fate Of This Woman And The Man Who Captured Her
The Real Story Behind The Tragic Image Of The Migrant Mother
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