Omayra Sánchez
Encyclopedia
Omaira Sánchez was a 13-year-old victim of the 1985 eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz
volcano
, which erupted on November 13, 1985, in Armero
, Colombia
causing massive lahars which killed nearly 25,000. Trapped for three days in water, concrete, and other debris before she died, Omayra captured the attention of the media as volunteer workers told of a girl they were unable to save. Videos of her communicating with workers, smiling and making gestures to video cameras circulated around the media. Her "courage and dignity" touched Frank Fournier and many other relief workers who gathered around her to pray and be with her.
After 60 hours of struggling, she died. Her death highlighted the failure of officials to respond promptly to the threat of the volcano and also the struggle for volunteer rescue workers to save trapped victims who would otherwise be quickly saved and treated.
Sánchez became famous for a photograph of her taken by photojournalist Frank Fournier
shortly before she died. When published worldwide after the young girl's death, the image caused controversy because of the photographer's decision to take it and the Colombian government's inaction in not working to prevent the Armero tragedy despite the forewarning that had been available.
volcano erupted. Pyroclastic flow
s shot from the crater to the mountain's icecap, where they melted the ice to form lahar
s, or volcanic mudflows. These lahars cascaded down the mountain into the river valleys below. One lahar was responsible for most of the damage, and proceeded in three waves. Traveling at a rapid speed of 6 metres (20 ft) per second, the first pulse enveloped most of Armero and killed many (up to 20,000) of its inhabitants. Two more pulses weakened buildings and another lahar killed 1,800 people in nearby Chinchina. In total, the mudflows killed some 23,000 people and destroyed 14 villages and cities.
The loss of life of the Armero tragedy was exacerbated by the lack of an accurate timeframe for the eruption and the unwillingness of local authorities to take costly preventative measures without clear signs of imminent danger. Because its last substantial eruption had occurred 140 years earlier, in 1845, it was difficult for many to accept the danger presented by the volcano; locals even called it the "Sleeping Lion." Hazard maps showing that Armero would be completely flooded after an eruption were distributed more than a month before the eruption, but the Colombian Congress criticized the scientific and civil defense
agencies for scaremongering. The eruption occurred at the height of guerrilla warfare in Bogotá
, Colombia's capital, and so the government and army were occupied at the time of the eruption.
Omayra Sánchez was 13 years old at the time and lived with her parents, her brother and an aunt, Maria Adela Garzón, in the neighborhood of Sahtander. Prior to the tragedy
, her mother had traveled to Bogotá
on business. The night of the disaster, she and her family laid awake, questioning the ashfall from the eruption when they heard the sound of an approaching lahar
.
Omayra became trapped under her own home's concrete and debris and could not free herself. When rescue teams tried to help her, they realized that her legs were trapped.
, or hypothermia.. Omayra suffered through nearly 3 nights of agony before she died in a state of confusion. During this time, she sang to Germán Santamaría and agreed to be interviewed. The teenage girl was scared, and often prayed or cried. On the third night, Omayra began hallucinating
, saying that she did not want to be late for school. At some point she asked the people to leave her so they could rest.
After 60 hours of exposure, Omayra died. Two hours before her death a broken pump arrived, and just four hours after, a regional town received 18 pumps. Both her brother, Alvaro Enrique, and mother, Maria Aleida, survived the lahars, but her father also died. Omayra's mother commented, "I will live for my son, who only lost a finger." She expressed her feelings about Omayra's death. "It is horrible, but we have to think about the living."
As the public became aware of Omayra's situation through the media, her eventual death came to symbolize the tragic nature of the Armero disaster and highlight the failure of officials to properly account for victims who could have been saved. Controversy broke out when officials indicated that they had used the best of their supplies, and descriptions of the shortages were released. Volunteer relief workers said that even basic supplies ran out, such as shovels, cutting tools, and stretchers, agreeing that there were not enough resources. Elaborating, they added that the rescue process was impeded by large crowds and senseless attention to organization. One police officer (unnamed) opined that the government should have depended on human resources to alleviate the problems and that the system of rescue was disorganized. Colombia's Minister of Defense, Miguel Uribe, admitted that he "understood criticism of the rescue effort", but directed it towards the fact that Colombia was "an undeveloped country" that didn't "have that kind of equipment."
, who landed in Bogota
on November 15. He traveled to Armero, which was, according to Fournier, "very remote", by driving for five hours and traveling on foot for another two and a half hours. When he reached Armero at dawn on the 16th, a farmer directed him to Omayra Sánchez, who was at that time almost deserted, having been trapped for nearly three days. Fournier later described the town as "very haunting," with "eerie silence" marked by screaming. He took the photograph feeling that he could only "report properly on the courage and the suffering and the dignity of the little girl" in his attempt to spread awareness of the disaster's need for relief efforts.
At the time the now famous photograph was taken, the world was already fixated on the tragedy. Omayra was one of the victims at the center of the associated controversy over responsibility for the disaster. Almost immediately after its release, the image captured widespread attention. According to an unnamed BBC author, "many were appalled at witnessing so intimately what transpired to be the last few hours of Omayra's life."
The image also attracted controversy after it appeared in Paris Match
. The public began to accuse Fournier of being "a vulture," to which he responded by stating, "I felt the story was important for me to report and I was happier that there was some reaction; it would have been worse if people had not cared about it." He added, "I believe the photo helped raise money from around the world in aid and helped highlight the irresponsibility and lack of courage of the country's leaders." The picture later went on to win the World Press Photo of the Year
for 1985.
The Armero catastrophe came shortly after the M-19
guerrilla group's raid and subsequent Palace of Justice siege
on November 6, worsening an already chaotic situation. After Omayra's death, blame for it and for the Armero tragedy fell on the Colombian government for its inaction and general indifference to warning signs prior to the volcano's eruption.
The volcano
Nevado del Ruiz
is still active, according to the Volcano Watch Center in Colombia. It remains a significant threat to as many as 500,000 people in the Chinchina, Coello-Toche, Combeima, and Guali river valleys. A melting of just 10 percent of the mountain's ice cap could release enough material to create mudflows with volumes of 2000000 cubic miles (8,336,364 km³). The city of Armero
, however, no longer exists and the site was turned into a memorial of the disaster where only crosses can be seen. A small monument exists in Omayra's memory. Local newspapers commemorated both the 20 years of the volcanic eruption as well as Omayra's death, and her case was also mentioned in TV and radio
commemorations.
Although many victims of the disaster were commemorated, Omayra in particular was immortalized by poems, novels, and music pieces. One work (Adios, Omayra) by Eduardo Santa illustrated the girl's last days of life and her symbolism of the catastrophe. Isabel Allende
's And of Clay Are We Created is based on these events. It is told from the perspective of a man who was present as Omayra died. Allende later wrote of her inspiration for the story, "Her [Omayra's] big black eyes, filled with resignation and wisdom, still pursue me in my dreams. Writing the story failed to exorcise her ghost."
Nevado del Ruiz
The Nevado del Ruiz, also known as La Mesa de Herveo or Kumanday in the language of the local pre-Columbian indigenous people, is a volcano located on the border of the departments of Caldas and Tolima in Colombia, about west of the capital city Bogotá. It is a stratovolcano, composed of many...
volcano
Volcano
2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...
, which erupted on November 13, 1985, in Armero
Armero
The Armero tragedy was one of the major consequences of the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz stratovolcano in Tolima, Colombia on November 13, 1985...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
causing massive lahars which killed nearly 25,000. Trapped for three days in water, concrete, and other debris before she died, Omayra captured the attention of the media as volunteer workers told of a girl they were unable to save. Videos of her communicating with workers, smiling and making gestures to video cameras circulated around the media. Her "courage and dignity" touched Frank Fournier and many other relief workers who gathered around her to pray and be with her.
After 60 hours of struggling, she died. Her death highlighted the failure of officials to respond promptly to the threat of the volcano and also the struggle for volunteer rescue workers to save trapped victims who would otherwise be quickly saved and treated.
Sánchez became famous for a photograph of her taken by photojournalist Frank Fournier
Frank Fournier
Frank Fournier is a French photographer. The son of a surgeon, he originally studied medicine for four years before becoming a photographer. He moved to New York and became a staff photographer at Contact Press Images in 1982 after joining the office staff in 1977. He is most well known for his...
shortly before she died. When published worldwide after the young girl's death, the image caused controversy because of the photographer's decision to take it and the Colombian government's inaction in not working to prevent the Armero tragedy despite the forewarning that had been available.
Background
On November 13, 1985, the Nevado del RuizNevado del Ruiz
The Nevado del Ruiz, also known as La Mesa de Herveo or Kumanday in the language of the local pre-Columbian indigenous people, is a volcano located on the border of the departments of Caldas and Tolima in Colombia, about west of the capital city Bogotá. It is a stratovolcano, composed of many...
volcano erupted. Pyroclastic flow
Pyroclastic flow
A pyroclastic flow is a fast-moving current of superheated gas and rock , which reaches speeds moving away from a volcano of up to 700 km/h . The flows normally hug the ground and travel downhill, or spread laterally under gravity...
s shot from the crater to the mountain's icecap, where they melted the ice to form lahar
Lahar
A lahar is a type of mudflow or debris flow composed of a slurry of pyroclastic material, rocky debris, and water. The material flows down from a volcano, typically along a river valley. The term is a shortened version of "berlahar" which originated in the Javanese language of...
s, or volcanic mudflows. These lahars cascaded down the mountain into the river valleys below. One lahar was responsible for most of the damage, and proceeded in three waves. Traveling at a rapid speed of 6 metres (20 ft) per second, the first pulse enveloped most of Armero and killed many (up to 20,000) of its inhabitants. Two more pulses weakened buildings and another lahar killed 1,800 people in nearby Chinchina. In total, the mudflows killed some 23,000 people and destroyed 14 villages and cities.
Civil defense
Civil defense, civil defence or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state from military attack. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, or emergency evacuation, and recovery...
agencies for scaremongering. The eruption occurred at the height of guerrilla warfare in Bogotá
Bogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
, Colombia's capital, and so the government and army were occupied at the time of the eruption.
Omayra Sánchez was 13 years old at the time and lived with her parents, her brother and an aunt, Maria Adela Garzón, in the neighborhood of Sahtander. Prior to the tragedy
Tragedy (event)
A tragedy is an event in which one or more losses, usually of human life, occurs that is viewed as mournful. Such an event is said to be tragic....
, her mother had traveled to Bogotá
Bogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
on business. The night of the disaster, she and her family laid awake, questioning the ashfall from the eruption when they heard the sound of an approaching lahar
Lahar
A lahar is a type of mudflow or debris flow composed of a slurry of pyroclastic material, rocky debris, and water. The material flows down from a volcano, typically along a river valley. The term is a shortened version of "berlahar" which originated in the Javanese language of...
.
Omayra became trapped under her own home's concrete and debris and could not free herself. When rescue teams tried to help her, they realized that her legs were trapped.
Death
Omayra was trapped up to her neck in water and the debris of her home for nearly 60 hours before she died, either of exposure, gangreneGangrene
Gangrene is a serious and potentially life-threatening condition that arises when a considerable mass of body tissue dies . This may occur after an injury or infection, or in people suffering from any chronic health problem affecting blood circulation. The primary cause of gangrene is reduced blood...
, or hypothermia.. Omayra suffered through nearly 3 nights of agony before she died in a state of confusion. During this time, she sang to Germán Santamaría and agreed to be interviewed. The teenage girl was scared, and often prayed or cried. On the third night, Omayra began hallucinating
Hallucination
A hallucination, in the broadest sense of the word, is a perception in the absence of a stimulus. In a stricter sense, hallucinations are defined as perceptions in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external stimuli which have qualities of real perception, in that they are vivid,...
, saying that she did not want to be late for school. At some point she asked the people to leave her so they could rest.
After 60 hours of exposure, Omayra died. Two hours before her death a broken pump arrived, and just four hours after, a regional town received 18 pumps. Both her brother, Alvaro Enrique, and mother, Maria Aleida, survived the lahars, but her father also died. Omayra's mother commented, "I will live for my son, who only lost a finger." She expressed her feelings about Omayra's death. "It is horrible, but we have to think about the living."
As the public became aware of Omayra's situation through the media, her eventual death came to symbolize the tragic nature of the Armero disaster and highlight the failure of officials to properly account for victims who could have been saved. Controversy broke out when officials indicated that they had used the best of their supplies, and descriptions of the shortages were released. Volunteer relief workers said that even basic supplies ran out, such as shovels, cutting tools, and stretchers, agreeing that there were not enough resources. Elaborating, they added that the rescue process was impeded by large crowds and senseless attention to organization. One police officer (unnamed) opined that the government should have depended on human resources to alleviate the problems and that the system of rescue was disorganized. Colombia's Minister of Defense, Miguel Uribe, admitted that he "understood criticism of the rescue effort", but directed it towards the fact that Colombia was "an undeveloped country" that didn't "have that kind of equipment."
Photograph
A photograph, named "The Agony of Omayra Sánchez", was taken by Frank FournierFrank Fournier
Frank Fournier is a French photographer. The son of a surgeon, he originally studied medicine for four years before becoming a photographer. He moved to New York and became a staff photographer at Contact Press Images in 1982 after joining the office staff in 1977. He is most well known for his...
, who landed in Bogota
Bogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
on November 15. He traveled to Armero, which was, according to Fournier, "very remote", by driving for five hours and traveling on foot for another two and a half hours. When he reached Armero at dawn on the 16th, a farmer directed him to Omayra Sánchez, who was at that time almost deserted, having been trapped for nearly three days. Fournier later described the town as "very haunting," with "eerie silence" marked by screaming. He took the photograph feeling that he could only "report properly on the courage and the suffering and the dignity of the little girl" in his attempt to spread awareness of the disaster's need for relief efforts.
At the time the now famous photograph was taken, the world was already fixated on the tragedy. Omayra was one of the victims at the center of the associated controversy over responsibility for the disaster. Almost immediately after its release, the image captured widespread attention. According to an unnamed BBC author, "many were appalled at witnessing so intimately what transpired to be the last few hours of Omayra's life."
The image also attracted controversy after it appeared in Paris Match
Paris Match
Paris Match is a French weekly magazine. It covers major national and international news along with celebrity lifestyle features. It was founded in 1949 by the industrialist Jean Prouvost....
. The public began to accuse Fournier of being "a vulture," to which he responded by stating, "I felt the story was important for me to report and I was happier that there was some reaction; it would have been worse if people had not cared about it." He added, "I believe the photo helped raise money from around the world in aid and helped highlight the irresponsibility and lack of courage of the country's leaders." The picture later went on to win the World Press Photo of the Year
World Press Photo of the Year
The vote for Press Photo of the Year is taken during the World Press Photo Awards, hosted by the Dutch foundation World Press Photo. The creator of the winning entry receives €10,000 along with "the most prestigious and coveted award in photojournalism"....
for 1985.
Legacy
19th of April Movement
The 19th of April Movement or M-19, was a Colombian guerrilla movement. After its demobilization it became a political party, the M-19 Democratic Alliance , or AD/M-19.The M-19 traced its origins to the allegedly fraudulent presidential elections of 19 April 1970...
guerrilla group's raid and subsequent Palace of Justice siege
Palace of Justice siege
The Palace of Justice siege was a 1985 attack against the Supreme Court of Colombia, in which members of the M-19 guerrilla group took over the Palace of Justice in Bogotá, Colombia, and held the Supreme Court hostage, intending to hold a trial against President Belisario Betancur...
on November 6, worsening an already chaotic situation. After Omayra's death, blame for it and for the Armero tragedy fell on the Colombian government for its inaction and general indifference to warning signs prior to the volcano's eruption.
The volcano
Volcano
2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...
Nevado del Ruiz
Nevado del Ruiz
The Nevado del Ruiz, also known as La Mesa de Herveo or Kumanday in the language of the local pre-Columbian indigenous people, is a volcano located on the border of the departments of Caldas and Tolima in Colombia, about west of the capital city Bogotá. It is a stratovolcano, composed of many...
is still active, according to the Volcano Watch Center in Colombia. It remains a significant threat to as many as 500,000 people in the Chinchina, Coello-Toche, Combeima, and Guali river valleys. A melting of just 10 percent of the mountain's ice cap could release enough material to create mudflows with volumes of 2000000 cubic miles (8,336,364 km³). The city of Armero
Armero
The Armero tragedy was one of the major consequences of the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz stratovolcano in Tolima, Colombia on November 13, 1985...
, however, no longer exists and the site was turned into a memorial of the disaster where only crosses can be seen. A small monument exists in Omayra's memory. Local newspapers commemorated both the 20 years of the volcanic eruption as well as Omayra's death, and her case was also mentioned in TV and radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
commemorations.
Although many victims of the disaster were commemorated, Omayra in particular was immortalized by poems, novels, and music pieces. One work (Adios, Omayra) by Eduardo Santa illustrated the girl's last days of life and her symbolism of the catastrophe. Isabel Allende
Isabel Allende
Isabel Allende Llona is a Chilean writer with American citizenship. Allende, whose works sometimes contain aspects of the "magic realist" tradition, is famous for novels such as The House of the Spirits and City of the Beasts , which have been commercially successful...
's And of Clay Are We Created is based on these events. It is told from the perspective of a man who was present as Omayra died. Allende later wrote of her inspiration for the story, "Her [Omayra's] big black eyes, filled with resignation and wisdom, still pursue me in my dreams. Writing the story failed to exorcise her ghost."