Word: armero
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Seven days after the devastating eruption of Nevado del Ruiz on Nov. 13, rescue workers in Armero were still finding living victims in the 15 ft. of ooze that covered the town. The searchers knew that they had nearly run out of luck. "If there are any more out there alive it would be a miracle," said Volunteer José de Jesus Lerna after several of the rescued had died. "Death is now unchallenged in Armero...
...casing from a toddler, to discover a girl wearing tiny golden earrings. The doctor removed mud from the child's eyes and mouth, and was rewarded with a cry of "Mami." The youngster, named Sandra, was one of only five small children rescued Friday from the mud of Armero. A three-year-old boy was found cradled by both his dead parents on a partly submerged mattress under a mango tree...
...limited in its scope. In an article headlined A PREDICTED DISASTER, the respected Bogotá daily El Espectador disclosed on Friday that the Colombian National Institute of Geological-Mining Investigations (INGEOMINAS) had published a report on Oct. 7 warning of the virtual certainty of a disaster. The report singled out Armero and the village of Chinchiná as threatened sites. As early as Sept. 26, INGEOMINAS had recommended the evacuation of towns at the base of the volcano. But the Colombian Ministers of the Interior, Public Works and Transportation, and Mines and Energy all had taken turns depreciating the danger...
...people who lived and worked in the farmlands around the simmering mountain, the early signs of eruption were accepted as part of the environment. Nor could anyone have predicted that the disaster would finally take place at night, the time of maximum vulnerability. Said Father Augusto Aosorio, one of Armero's parish priests: "We knew the danger was there. But we just cheerfully got accustomed to it." Aosorio was extraordinarily lucky: only hours before the eruption, he had left town to meet with his bishop in Ibagu?...
...second visit to the devastated zone, he encountered just such a scene. Said a local witness: "People were crying desperately, seeking out refuge in places that were more secure, while a vehicle with a loudspeaker rolled through the streets urging them to evacuate in order to avoid another Armero." Betancur struggled to restore calm. "Please, please, no more unfounded rumors," he exhorted. "We cannot be overcome by panic...