The Land of Lakes and Volcanoes...and Earthquakes

As some of you folks may know, Nicaragua is known as “La Tierra de Lagos y Vulcanes”, or in English, the Land of Lakes and Volcanoes. Nicaragua boasts the largest lake in all of Central America, as well as a host of large lakes scattered around the country. And although it is not the most mountainous Central American country by any means, it has more, and taller, volcanoes than any other country in the region. I took this thought for granted, just another unique feature of my resident country, something to take pride in. What I didn’t think about was the greater consequences and side effects of living in the land of volcanoes…earthquakes.

Nicaragua sits on the edge of a tectonic plate, I believe the same one that California sits on. (Kan someone fact check that? I don’t have internet as I write this.) In effect, Nicaragua is highly prone to earthquakes, and has a rich history in earthquakes. Well, rich isn’t quite the right word. The opposite or rich, poor, would be more appropriate. Or more appropriate is the following Nicaragua has a devastating history of earthquakes. Twice, in this century alone, 1932 and 1972, have earthquakes in the high sevens on the Richter scale had their epicenter in the heart of the capital, Managua. The effects of these quakes have had long lasting effects economically, esthetically, and politically. As buildings collapsed, people watched helplessly, knowing that neither they themselves nor the government had enough money to rebuild them. Buildings structurally unsound due to the earthquake 40 years ago still stand, because the government doesn’t have enough dough to knock them down. Instead of rebuild, the city as a result expanded outwards, enlarging the city limits. Few buildings are over two or three stories. The result has been the ugly sprawling mess that now is Managua, with no downtown or safe commercial area, that doesn’t resemble any other capital in the world. Most people would think the capital is the ideal place to go while on vacation down here. I tell you now with hesitation, run, get away from Managua as fast as you can. Not worth the time. And one of the consequences was the death of baseball player Roberto Clemente, who was delivering food and medical supplies when his plane when down on New Years Eve in 1972.

Now why I am suddenly talking about earthquakes? Because in the last week and a half there have been three significant earthquakes in the region, the last one being a 7.9 two hundred km off the coast of Costa Rica. The first two were smaller, off the coast first El Salvador and Costa Rica, and were not felt. But living within twenty five kilometers from the beach, I did get two frantic midnight calls from the Peace Corps office warning me about a pending tsunami. Had they been real threats, I would’ve been evacuated, but I certainly appreciated the heads up.

But yesterday, as I’m in class, the big one hit. We were working in small groups outside, and I was sitting on a bench holding up a piece of paper in explain a concept. All the sudden the students, almost simultaneously the students covered their eyes or looked away. And then I felt it, although not in the way I expected. All the sudden I felt dizzy, as if I was going to faint with the world was swaying slowly around me. My first though was something more sinister, some sort of airborne agent in the air that caused all of us to feel that weird sensation. That is until a second later, I heard the word temblor (tremor), mumbled by a student. For about fifteen to twenty seconds, there we sat, stupefied almost, just watching the world around us. I was only vaguely aware we should take some sort of precautionary measure; I was more amazed by the way everything seemed to move in waves around me. What was I supposed to do in my first earthquake anyway? I’m from New England, things like that don’t happen there. There was no visible damage, and class continued as usual. It wasn’t until ten minutes later when I got the call from the assistant country director, who knew my enthusiasm for surfing. “STAY AWAY from the beach. There is a high alert for a tsunami.” (Don’t worry dad, I didn’t grab my board and run to the beach.)  Now being in a rural community, I had no way of knowing immediately where the earthquake originated or the extent of the damage through the country. Luckily in Nicaragua, there was a low incidence of problems, info I gathered from neighbors with TV’s, my radio, and talking with the local army. A tsunami was an effect of the earthquake, all though it had little repercussions, hardly flooding the more southern departments of Nicaragua. But it was a sufficient threat to cancel all class in coastal departments, and I enjoyed an afternoon off to myself. I was surprised and pleased with the response of the government, who seemed to do all it could to prevent any unwarranted property damage and death. So kudos to Ortega and the Sandanistas, for that.

But the real question is, when will the next big one hit Nicaragua? You’ll notice these two major earthquakes were forty years apart. It’s been forty years since the last one. Does that mean we’ll get another big one soon? Will we be ready?