An earthquake occurred in Armenia, Colombia on 25 January 1999. The magnitude of the earthquake was 6.2. This area has a well - known seismic risk because of the triple junction that occurs at the north-west corner of the South-American plate. It was due to a convergent plate movement.
The whole Colombian coffee industry was heavily affected by this natural disaster as approximately 8,000 coffee farms were either completely of partially destroyed. In addition, 13,000 structures of several kinds of enterprises and industries were damaged and temporarily or permanently out of service. As a result, many banks were not able to dispense any money for several weeks. Additionally, many tower blocks, hotels and historic churches toppled. The Colombia quake left 1,185 dead, 4750 injured and 700 missing.
Due to this tragic disaster, the Colombian president postponed his trip to attend a World Bank meeting in Germany, but in turn flew down to Pereira to see the devastating situation himself. The Colombian government also imposed a dawn-till-dusk curfew after the earthquake, to allow rescue workers to work untarnished. The president also sent soldiers to the afflicted area to restore order.
In my opinion, I believe that the government can get better and more sensitive hazard spotter to spot the imminent natural disaster and do the necessary safety measures to minimise the destruction of the area that the hazard will affect before the disaster actually hits the area.
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