Thousands Flee Quake's Devastation

Thousands Flee Quake’s Devastation

L.A. Times Archives

Feb. 1, 1999 12 AM PT

From Reuters

ARMENIA, Colombia — Thousands of Colombians continued to pour out of this provincial capital Sunday, hoping to leave behind the destruction and violence caused by last week’s deadly earthquake.

The ground continued to shake Sunday as aftershocks rattled already frayed nerves.

Three moderate aftershocks hit the west-central coffee-growing region, the largest a magnitude 3.5, but no additional damage was reported, Dario Llanos of the National Geological Institute said.

Traffic clogged all roads out of Armenia as families loaded up vehicles with possessions salvaged from the ruins left by the quake, which killed at least 940 people and injured more than 4,000.

Others stood by the roadside trying to hitch a ride or besieged the local airport in the hope of getting a flight out on one of the military transport planes delivering tons of humanitarian aid.

According to local officials, 70% of the structures in the city of 300,000 people were destroyed or will have to be pulled down.

In the aftermath of the quake, frustration over a slow relief effort and chronic food and water shortages boiled over in a looting rampage that sparked violent clashes between mobs and troops in the city center Friday.

Heavily armed troops and police, part of a 6,000-strong security presence in the city, patrolled the streets Sunday, and no fresh looting was reported.

Security officials blamed much of the violence on out-of-town thugs. “It makes no sense for people to break in to stores to steal television sets, bicycles and other electrical goods out of hunger,” armed forces chief Gen. Fernando Tapias said.

As bulldozers rumbled around the city shoveling tons of debris, rescue efforts concentrated on one downtown building that crashed to the ground during an aftershock four hours after last Monday’s magnitude-6.0 earthquake.

Rescue experts from a number of countries, including Hungary and Mexico, painstakingly removed the rubble in the hope of finding survivors amid the heap of concrete and twisted steel. Their only reward was the discovery of two black kittens that darted out when a large block of concrete was lifted.

With tens of thousands of people in the city homeless, about 50 managed to find shelter beneath the big top of a traveling circus.

Ringmaster Cristian Camacho said he planned a special performance to raise the spirits of his unfortunate guests.

QUAKE HITS NERVE IN L.A.

Those with relatives in Colombia scramble to get news about their loved ones. B1

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How to Help

These groups are accepting money to help quake victims:

American Red Cross

(800) HELP-NOW (435-7669)

2700 Wilshire Blvd.

P.O. Box 57930

Los Angeles, CA 90057