Question: What were you doing when the earthquake hit?

Answer: I was walking in the street in downtown Bogota. Suddenly people began to shout that they could feel the ground shaking. The people next to me started to run - everyone was very frightened. I could feel the ground moving but it was only a slight tremble. Friends who were at work in their offices said the buildings were shaking quite badly.

 

Question: How is the earthquake being reported in the local media?

Answer: The news reports here have been very sensationalist - close-up television images of dead bodies and people crying. The journalists are asking survivors questions such as "what are you feeling?", "describe what happened", to people who are wounded and looking desperately for their family and friends, or who are there with their dead beside them. But the media is helping by acting as a public information service, issuing the names of people in hospital or who are still missing.

 

Question: The earthquake didn't directly hit Bogota, so how are people there reacting to the disaster?

Answer: In general, people in Bogota know there has been a disaster but are not really affected. Most people in Bogota did feel some trembling, though some living in the west of the city felt nothing at all, and none of the buildings are damaged.

 

Question: How is the government responding to the disaster? Are they relying on international aid?

Answer: The Colombian government has sent enough food, water, clothes, medicine, coffins and other things for the estimated 1000 victims - though they need 150,000 tons of food per day. Canada, France, Czechoslovakia, the United States, Japan, Spain, the UK and other countries are also sending aid. However emergency supplies are taking a long time to get through and even the are not getting directly to the survivors. The Colombian government has declared an economic emergency to begin rebuilding the cities, which are in the centre of Colombia, a six hour drive from Bogota.