00:00Perhaps it's time we had a slightly more serious conversation about what it means to live in a
00:05seismically active country, like Colombia.
00:09And I want to start by showing you a map so we can better understand where we stand.
00:14It is a map that shows part of a project carried out by the Colombian Geological Survey in conjunction with the Global Foundation
00:20Earthquake Model,
00:22to achieve the National Seismic Hazard Model for Colombia.
00:27It is important that they provide details because it shows the severity and frequency of earthquakes that can occur in our country.
00:33country.
00:34Because you surely already know, after this week's earthquake, we are located at a point on the planet where converge
00:40three plates.
00:42The Nazca Plate, the South American Plate, and the Caribbean Plate.
00:46This image shows you better what the story about the license plates is going to be about, which we all know by now.
00:51thanks to a revolutionary and relatively new theory,
00:54of the second half of the 20th century, plate detectors.
00:58Notice that they are like portions into which the outermost solid surface layer of the Earth is divided,
01:05the lithosphere.
01:06There is the North American Plate, the South American Plate, the Eurasian Plate, the Antarctic Plate, and three other main plates.
01:14and some of medium size, such as the Caribbean or the Nazca Plate, which is in the Pacific.
01:20They are all in motion. It's imperceptible to us, except when there's an earthquake like the one this week.
01:27because the Nazca Plate is subducting beneath the South American Plate, which is also very young,
01:34The older they are, the more rigid they become. And that friction releases energy and causes waves to propagate.
01:43they reach the surface.
01:44Some we don't feel, others, however, cause earthquakes.
01:49Such as the one on January 31, 1906, or the one on December 12, 1979, the ones of greatest magnitude
01:56that has happened in Colombia.
01:57One was 8.8 and caused flooding on beaches in municipalities such as Tumaco, Francisco Pizarro, Mosquera, Guapi and Timbiquí
02:06They will be submerged under waves resulting from a tsunami.
02:10The other one was 8.1 and also generated a tsunami that affected the entire coast from Guapi north
02:17and Tumaco to the south.
02:19In 1979, in November, in fact, there was another one in the coffee-growing region.
02:25There were house collapses in Manizales, in Jardín, in Andes and in some places in Pereira.
02:31That particularity of our territory also causes earthquakes, like the one on Monday, August 10, which has us all worried.
02:38dismayed.
02:39Furthermore, here is another map of the areas with the highest seismic intensities that have occurred here in Colombia.
02:47And the fact that our country is located in that part of the world means that we have images like these.
02:53Look at the huge number of earthquakes that have occurred in the country in the last 12 days.
02:58But let's return to this seismic hazard model map,
03:02which somehow shows us what those earthquakes might be like in the future and where they might occur.
03:08But don't be mistaken. It's not a prediction. Earthquakes can be predicted.
03:14In that work they estimated the probabilities that in a set of points in the country
03:20there is more intensity in the movement of a terrain during a period of time.
03:25To put it more simply, as seismologist Mónica Arcila told us,
03:29of the Colombian Geological Survey and who led that model,
03:33For earthquakes with a 10% probability of occurrence in 50 years,
03:38We have that in 54.4% of the territory of Colombia there may be a strong to very severe movement.
03:4590% of the urban population lives in the areas of greatest threat.
03:49The main infrastructure projects are also located there.
03:53In very general terms, these hazard maps show that the highest peak accelerations,
04:01which, in very simple terms, is like that sudden jolt the ground experiences during an earthquake,
04:07They can occur in the Colombian Pacific, in the Coffee Region,
04:11in the Llanero Border, where Tauramena and Villavicencio are located, for example,
04:15nor in the departments of Arauca, Norte de Santander and Santander,
04:19where, as you may recall, is the famous seismic nest of Bucaramanga,
04:24which is the third most active on the planet.
04:27On the other hand, the Atlantic coast, the eastern plains, and the Amazon face a lesser threat.
04:35Does that mean that those who live in some of those areas, like my family, are at risk?
04:40Not necessarily. It means it's better if the places where they live comply with earthquake-resistant building codes.
04:48Well, we live in a very unique country, and it's best that we have a shared memory and culture.
04:53of what it means to live in a seismically active area.
04:57And remember that at El Espectador we are making a great effort to bring you clear information about all these events.
05:06Follow us on our social media channels and check out the science section on our website.
05:13Bye.
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