Earthquake of Cúcuta (1875)
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The Earthquake of Cúcuta also known as Earthquake of the Andes was an earthquake that occurred on May 18, 1875 at 11:15 AM. It completely demolished Cúcuta, Villa del Rosario (Colombia), San Antonio del Tachira and Capacho (Venezuela). The earthquake killed many Venezuelans in San Cristóbal, La Mulata, Rubio, Michelena, La Grita, Colón, amongst others, and was felt in both Bogotá and Caracas.
That day, the city of Cúcuta and the town of Villa del Rosario, in the Norte de Santander department (Colombia) and the municipalities of San Antonio del Táchira and Capacho, Táchira State (Venezuela) were destroyed totally by this catastrophic earthquake. Villa del Rosario was a historical and calm population. In 1821 had met in the main church (nowsdays Historic church) to means to construct, the members of the First Congress of the Great Colombia, known as Congress of Cúcuta.
Still it is observed the rest of the church that collapse during the great seismic movement, the houses of that time in the zone were of the purest Spanish colonial style.
Three or four shocks preceded to the earthquake during the previous days, and so it was the magnitude of which according to the witnesses of the time the shocks arrived to crack the walls and to throw to the ground objects of the tables, the night previous to the earthquake; the passage of a bolide or fire ball that crossed of North to the South a vast extension of the rosariense sky, omen for the settlers of the villa that something bad was approached to them, these was sufficient alarms for the inhabitants of the zone, that some took forecasts, since they feared a great misfortune.
One of the witnesses refers thus: The first shock, writing down that was Sunday in the evening, 16 of May of 1875, (two days before the earthquake): "We walked throughout an ample runner, when we suddenly heard a noise like the one of cars or people that run fleeing from a wild bull. We walked in the middle of vibrations that instead of inspiring terror to us gave a pleasant feeling us ".
It approaches in the number of victims are some exageraciones, some say that there were about 2,000, others say that the death roll in single Cúcuta was from 900 to 1.000. Nevertheless the number of corpses removed from the ruins and counted was: 253. men: total 208. women: 461, more did not enter deads of the neighboring populations in a radius of 80 km, that were buried under the rubbish of the houses, populations like Villa of the Rosary, San Luis, Salazar, Woods of the Palms, Gramalote, Bochalema; and San Faustino in Colombia and of San Antonio, Capacho, San Cristóbal, the Mulata, Rubio, Michelena, La Grita, Colon in Venezuela fell the houses and until a more than 100 km of distance as in Chinácota and beyond Mérida there were great damages in addition he was felt to great distance like in Bogota and Caracas, where he was felt like an earthquake of medium intensity that alarmed their settlers, in addition the earthquake to the numerous Táchira precipice houses and talents (mills) of properties and property that stayed totally destroyed as also the patios of drying of the coffee all cracked and divided for the equal one of the rudimentary systems of irrigated land of the numerous plantations of the time.
