 It is mid-November 1985 and rescue workers are searching a town for survivors. It has been hit by a deadly mud flow caused by volcanic eruption. The town's inhabitants were caught by the tragedy by surprise. Many were unaware of the danger they were in until the very last minute. Bizarrely the nearby volcanic eruption had been predicted and government officials knew of the town's potential for being wiped off the map. However information to the people was sparse and evacuation was a bit of an afterthought. As bodies are recovered and the true loss of life is calculated quickly it becomes apparent that November the 13th 1985 will go down in history as the second deadliest volcanic eruption of the 20th century. Today I'm looking at the Armero Columbia tragedy. My name is John and welcome to Plainly Difficult, Columbia's White City. Our story starts in the town of Armero built upon an alluvial fan. The settlement over its history was a hub of significant portions of the country's rice and cotton production. That's why it's called the White City. I know you thought I was going to mention something a little bit more illicit. The town owes its agricultural prosperity to the Nevada del Ruiz volcano that sits above it as previous eruptions had made the soil fertile. The town was also not a stranger to volcanic activity with two disasters occurring in 1595 and 1845 where the main cause of destruction was from La Haze. That is a violent mud or debris flow consisting of a slurry of pyroclastic material mud and water. These things are deadly and usually follow the flow of a river. Any who's after the disaster in 1845 the volcano would erupt again some 71 years later in 1916. The Ruiz would once again go quiet, lulling the residents of Armero into a false sense of security. The town continued on but some warnings of Ruiz awakening were upon the horizon. It is December 1984 and scientists have been watching the 17716 foot Nevada del Ruiz. She, wait do we call the mountain she or do we even anthropomorphize volcanoes? Who knows and probably who cares? Well she is giving some hints of eruption. Seismic activity and steam releases were seen. Now this might sound worrying but is apparently normal as said in a contemporary LA Times interview with US Geological Survey official David Norris. But the activity would continue to increase. Higher sulfur deposits were found on the volcano's peak and minor phreatic eruptions were noted. Activity continued into 1985 and in September a large phreatic eruption occurred shooting a massive plume of steam into the air. The government began to plan for an evacuation and started compiling a hazard map. A mudflow between 60 and 70 feet wide travelled about 20 miles down the Acufredo river valley. It caused not a lot of damage but officials closed off parts of the mountain nevertheless. A report for government officials was published by an Italian volcanologist team on the 22nd of October 1985. It was rather worrying that the scientists had determined that the risk of lahars was unusually high, leading officials to predict a 67% chance that an eruption was imminent. The hazard map by now was completed. It was to be distributed to the areas most affected and highlighted the risks of rock debris, pyroclastic flows, and lahars. But there was a bit of an issue. Distribution wasn't great. The idea was to print the hazard map in newspapers and magazines. Although printed, they didn't reach most of the at-risk areas and the ones that did, most notably the one in El Espectador newspaper in Bogota, had some glaring flaws. The scale was all messed up and parts of the map were cut off, not properly showing the edges of the danger zones. There was colour, which was pretty good, but the zones of blue, red and green and yellow ink had no key. So made it virtually useless for working out what was expected where. And as a spoiler, green and blue didn't actually mean the area was safe. Also the maps weren't particularly well distributed due to the fear of economic issues that, you know, evacuating people in an area would create. There was a reason for the poor distribution, as the government was also fighting guerrilla forces. The government also wrongly thought that evacuation would have plenty of time because mud flows slowly, right? As such, Armero went pretty unnoticed in terms of solid evacuation and warning plans. Because of this, most stayed put in Armero, but Ruiz was screaming I'm going to blow by late October, with multiple small earthquakes near the mountain and lava beginning to appear at the top. But the people continued on as normal, all the way into November. Size-wick activity continued, but to a lesser level than what was seen a couple of months earlier in September. The eruption. It is the morning of the 13th of November, 1985, and it didn't seem too different for the people living under Ruiz. At roughly three in the afternoon, Nevada del Ruiz began to erupt, shooting ash into the air. The local civil defence conducted in Gio Minas, Colombia's geological survey, and explained the situation. Local officials were advised to begin evacuation of the surrounding areas. The Armero civil defence director was then told to contact the civil defence directors in Bogotá and Tolima. By now, the ice cap on the mountain was melting from the heat of the eruption. But down in Armero, Mariquita and Honda, the ash had slowed down. This was around 5pm. Residents were instructed to stay home and stay calm. In Armero, a local emergency committee meeting was arranged. It would last until 7pm, after which the Red Cross was contacted. A storm was building up as the evening drew in, cutting Armero off from lines of communication. Civil defence officials from other areas tried to order an evacuation of Armero, but in the heavy wind and rain, the messages were not received. Electrical issues persisted, hindering radio communications and lighting. At around 9.45pm, rumbling could be heard from up in the mountain. Pyroclastic flows melted more ice and gathered up ash, mud and water into a deadly slurry. It began to run down the sides of the top of the volcano, destroying a volcanic lake consisting of salty water, which in turn melted even more snow and ice. The overflow of mud and material rumbled down the mountains, 11 flank valleys, at speeds of up to 35km an hour. The lahars engulfed in China, killing an estimated 1,000 people, but the worst was yet to come. The mudflow was speeding down the slopes to Armero, reaching speeds up to 50km an hour. Batan was hit by lahars at approximately 11.30pm. Many residents were still inside obeying the orders from earlier on in the evening. In an instant, the lahar swept through Armero, smashing into buildings, sweeping up cars and pushing people along with the deadly mudflow. There were roughly 28,700 people in Armero and 3 quarters would be gone. After the first lahar would hit and last 30 minutes, by now 85% of the town was under mud and debris. Another lahar followed yet again, albeit slower, but this time lasting for over 2 hours. Buildings collapsed, trapping their occupants. The lahars carried very small sharp pieces of rock, and if caught in, it would cause hundreds of cuts to the skin. The mud also caused suffocation, which pretty much is stuff of nightmares. In total, at least 23,000 people were killed, approximately 5,000 were injured and 5,000 homes were destroyed throughout the 13 affected villages. The region was decimated. By the time rescue efforts began the next day, Armero was a mix of eerie, quiet, interrupted with screaming and moaning from the trapped. The aftermath. Relief workers struggled to help the trapped. And this was hindered by the mud, difficult terrain and limited working infrastructure and power. The mud had a depth of over 4.5 meters or 15 feet in some places, and those who ventured walking in it could sink. Several bridges had collapsed in the lahars, rendering road travel almost impossible. Armero's hospital had been destroyed. As a result, helicopter was the only viable method for extraction of the wounded. As such, many treatable injured people died before help could reach them. Even a week after the eruption, relief workers were digging through the rubble, but sadly they were only finding bodies. There were many tragedies. One world famous one was of Armero Sanchez-Gazon, a 13 year old girl trapped among the rubble. The picture taken of her trapped would illustrate to the world the sadness the eruption had caused. Guerrilla fighters called off attacks and the government's presidential election was called off, but the lull in the bloodshed wouldn't remain forever. The disaster caused economic hardship for the country, with the cost running up as much as a fifth of Colombia's gross national product at roughly $1 billion, and that was in 1985. The event generated a lot of anger towards the government, with many blaming them more than the volcano. I mean it's understandable. Local officials had on multiple occasions tried to warn their higher ups of issues with lack of proper evacuation plans. So Armero wouldn't be rebuilt. The surviving residents were moved to Gaya Yabeo and Liriida, leaving the remains of what would be a ghost town. Nevada del Ruiz is still a risk to some 500,000 people in the region, and that means Armero may repeat itself in the future. Check them out if you want to see extra odds and sods I post up. I also have a second channel called Made by Jon, and I'd also like to thank my Patrons and YouTube members for your financial support, as well as the rest of you for tuning in every week to watch my videos. All that's left to say is thank you for watching and MrMusic, place out please.