by In recent days, several tremors have occurred in Colombia. Their epicenters have been different. For example, what happened on Friday, March 10, had its epicenter in Los Santos, in the department of Santander.
In this line, it is valid to mention that an earthquake is “the sudden movement of the Earth caused by the release of energy accumulated over a long time. Usually these movements are slow and imperceptible, but in some the displacement releases a large amount of energy, when one of the plates moves abruptly against the other, breaking it and causing the earthquake.explains the National Commission for Risk Prevention and Emergency Care of Costa Rica.
Likewise, regarding the causes, the Mexican Government portal indicates that “although the interaction between tectonic plates is the main cause of the earthquakes, it is not the only one. Any process that can achieve large concentrations of energy in the rocks can generate earthquakes whose size will depend, among other factors, on how large the stress concentration zone is.”
In the same way, it is necessary to emphasize that just as an earthquake can occur at any moment, one of the best-known automated search engines in the world, Google, sends alert notifications before they happen.
Therefore, it is vitally important to know how this works. In this line, John Makario Londoño, director of Geothreats of the SGN, indicated, based on information collected by the Portfolio, that Google reports a tremor or earthquake of great intensity that travels from its point of origin to the surface of the Earth.
However, this notification is given just seconds before the earthquake occurs, so once it arrives, it is necessary to act quickly to avoid affectations.
How close was the magnitude of the earthquake in Colombia early Friday to that of the earthquake in Turkey?
The tremor was felt in several areas of the country such as Santander, Caldas, Cundinamarca and certain areas of Valle de Cauca.
In this regard, many people wonder how close the magnitude of the telluric movement in Colombia was to what happened in Turkey on February 6, 2023, for which reason the seismologist Rodrigo León and the geologist María Isabel Sierra, professors of the Department of Geosciences from the Universidad de los Andes, analyzed the event.
For Rodrigo León, “the earthquake had an emotional impact on people due to the phenomenon that occurred in Turkey”; however, that of Colombia was moderate to intermediate in magnitude.
“If we compare them, I think they are very different earthquakes in terms of energy release. Today’s is 125 smaller than Turkey’s. It was one that we considered to be a moderate to intermediate magnitude earthquake.”he assured.
Tremor: what to do in the event of an earthquake?
Juan Carlos Delgadillo, a volunteer firefighter from the Santa Marta Fire Department, in the department of Magdalena, explained in WEEK what to do in case of earthquake
The expert explained that the person should be located near the columns or beams of the building.
“You have to do it on the continuous walls, close to the load-bearing columns and try not to do it under the door frame, or under the tables, or under a window, but next to a strong wall, Complete,” says the firefighter.
What not to do
It is important to understand that you have to “wait for it to happen because that is a lottery, sometimes there are people who, like in Mexico, run out of the house and a window or a post falls on them, so the idea is: where can I catch it?” one, try to find the side of the walls that is the last to fall; try to be next to the columns or beams and stay in a semiflexed position, that is, kneeling with one leg and wait for it to pass”.
