is amazing. Machin volcano, considered the highest active volcano danger in Colombia, is almost unknown. Before 2000 no one talked about it, did not appear in the books geography, was not mentioned in the Plans and Disaster Prevention, and was considered in the Zoning Plans or Development Plans. Not even on the Internet. What is not named does not exist and that's what happened with the volcano Machin, the most serious volcanic hazards in Colombia.
That began to change when the Cosmos Ecological Foundation of Calarcá, began the task of "doing there Machin Volcano." The initiative arose from a talk in which some members came to realize that they knew the volcano's existence for many years but never heard about him. So the January 2, 2000 began a campaign of visits to the volcano inviting journalists from various media, academics and schools, students, members of relief agencies and how many people are interested in going to know "the volcano is not exists. "
further visits are made regularly because it is not easy for a society to assimilate what a volcano is and less when there are people who are determined to conceal its existence. As it happened years ago when a Secretary of the Department of Quindío said terrorists who were disseminating information about the machine. Fortunately we have the support of Marta Lucia Calvache, INGEOMINAS volcanologist, who for three days was met with authorities and offered lectures and press conference to make clear, in Quindio least, that the volcano does exist and that irresponsible is not about him.
'Enemies of the existence of the volcano, "argue that disclosing the information would cause fear in people, would lower the price of land, drive away strategic investments in the region and that no one would come to establish their business or living here. This is the thinking of those who have reduced all human dimensions to the purely economic, for people they do not matter, what matters is its capital, property, business. The suffering, unhappiness or ruin of thousands of people mean nothing. The existence of the volcano requires that steps be taken now for the occurrence of an eruption to cause the least possible damage to our society. LOCATION
El Cerro Machin, Machin Alto or the Hole, as it is popularly called, lies on the eastern slopes of the Cordillera Central at a distance in a straight line, 7 km northeast of Cajamarca, 17 km northwest of Ibague and 32 km southeast of Armenia. It can be reached by road from Ibague (El Boqueron), Cajamarca and Salento. Access is easy, you come by car to inside the crater of the volcano, there are several farms and live eight families.
is sufficient to take a map to see that it is in the heart of Colombia, in the middle of the "golden triangle" (hypothetical triangle with vertices in Bogota, Medellin and Cali) where it concentrates most of the population and economic infrastructure. It is easy to foresee that the occurrence of an eruption would be the biggest disaster we've known, estimated to affect, directly, to more than one million people.
FEATURES
Not all volcanoes are the same and this is most singular. Is an active volcano and highly explosive. Is the lowest altitude in Colombia (2,750 meters), is confused with the topography of the area as the center of the crater is occupied by several domes fumarolic activity, and is so large that it is "because the diameter crater is 2.4 km. These characteristics make it virtually invisible to those who do not know it does not match the common image we have of a volcano.
is good to clarify that is considered an active volcano that has had, at least, a rash in the last 10,000 years. There is geological record of six eruptions in the machine, over the past 5,000 years, which are often characterized by eruptive columns produce several tens of kilometers high that deposited ash layers of several tens of centimeters in areas such as Armenia, pyroclastic flows hundreds of meters thick, which filled the river valleys draining the volcano and volcanic mudflows (also called "lahars") that reached to get to the Magdalena River forming huge alluvial fans in areas Chicoral, Espinal, Guam and Saldaña. The last eruption occurred approximately 850 years and it was a memory in Indian legend of the region. A simple calculation shows that, in geological terms, we are close of a new eruption could happen at any time. Other manifestations of volcanic activity are the presence of fumaroles, microsismisidad permanent springs in and near the crater of the volcano landforms are well preserved and increased presence of radon gas the sector.
The first references to the existence of volcano Machin German geologist should Friedlaender (1927) who was informed of its existence by Brother Amable who discovered it. From the beginning the volcano was classified as a volcano or plinian somma that is the technical name given to explosive volcanoes, the most dangerous precisely because of the size and characteristics of their eruptions. Of this type have been the Krakatoa, the Bezymianny, Vesuvius, and Mount Saint Helen. The record indicates that previous eruptions have always been explosive, very strong material and have covered a wide territory in the departments of Tolima, Quindio, Risaralda, Valle del Cauca and Cundinamarca.
THE VOLCANO AND THE PASSAGE OF "THE LINE"
Machin volcano Proximity to the road linking downtown with the country's west, by the passage of "The Line" is another aspect that holds surprises. In a document published by Weber County in the year 1999 ( CERRO VOLCANO Machine, DISASTER PREVENTION AND TERRITORIAL ) reads as follows: "The land management policies should take into account the activity of the volcano on issues Machin as population density and location of strategic infrastructure for the country, such as communication between the center (Andean Region) and western (Pacific). "
In 2005, work began on the tunnel " The Line " and Environmental Impact Study, prepared by the firm Gómez y Asociados Cajiao even Machin volcano is named as a possible threat to himself, even as something of importance in the context of the work. And the government has insisted on the tunnel there, despite the relevant recommendations of Weber County. This is unacceptable for several reasons.
Firstly because the modernization of the road and tunnel construction will increase economic activities in the region and thus increase the population in Ibague, Cajamarca, Calarcá, Armenia and throughout the center of the track. In other words, we are inviting tens of thousands of people to live in an area of \u200b\u200bvolcanic and serious threat that contradicts the wisdom of disaster prevention.
Secondly, because the focus on the mountain pass by this place committed several errors. One of the most famous of territorial development of Colombia is the excessive concentration of population and economic infrastructure in a small part of the country (the aforementioned "golden triangle") while the rest remains almost completely deserted and backwardness. It was thought (still need to do so) in one step by another place to open new areas to population and economic activity. Going through "The Line" remains the only useful step in the Cordillera Central for exports and imports of the country. In the event of an eruption that road would be lost for decades, possibly for decades, and the famous tunnel of "The Line" would not serve to raise more than bats, the country would be halved, without communication between the Midwest and Buenaventura with disastrous consequences for the national economy. The disaster would be twofold. On the one hand a million people directly affected and on the other the entire country with its broken economy. VOLCANIC ACTIVITY
Machin Volcano has gained notoriety in recent days because of unusual seismic activity that occurs in the volcano and its surroundings. This is occurring since late 1998 but has increased dramatically in recent months. In December 2007 there were 381 small earthquakes in January 2008 were 492, in February 162, March 1980, April and May 747 437. Much of this stems from microearthquakes or snapping geological structures within the volcano and that is worrying. There are other signs of volcanic activity as the increase in fumarolic activity, changes in the emission of radon gas and a possible deformation of the dome that blocks the crater.
We are thus in default of taking effective measures to prepare and prevent a disaster. It is true that there is no way of knowing when it will happen but we do know will happen and where. On 21 January, created a special commission at the highest level of government to address the issue and have already seen some action as the instruction given by the Ministry of Education about the need to publicize the existence of the volcano within the educational curriculum, meetings have been convened to prepare a "contingency plan" (should be "prevention and contingency) in the case of an eruption, Quindio, and has increased monitoring of the volcano (still insufficient) to learn more about what is happening there in time to warn and the occurrence of an eruption.
is already talk of the volcano and that in progress, but do not forget that the social process of assimilation as a problematic aspect of our reality is something that takes a long time delay many years. And there is still much to be done.
By: Nestor Jaime Ocampo Giraldo ( funcosmos@hotmail.com )
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