They were just small children, or had not been born, when the tragedy took place in Las Colinas de Santa Tecla. They could hardly understand the extent of what had happened. Today they feel good in the place that was the icon of a national tragedy.
An earthquake struck El Salvador at 11:33 a.m. on January 13, 2001. Its magnitude was 7.6. One of the most affected places was the Las Colinas neighborhood of Santa Tecla. A landslide that broke away from the El Bálsamo mountain range has buried 200 homes and killed 500 people, nearly half the total number of deaths across the country.
Today marks 20 years since the tragedy, its inhabitants live normally from one day to the next. Milena Bahamón has been living with her family for 13 years, two passages after the Las Colinas landslide, where the landslide failed to cover the houses, and today she remembers when her mother bought the house in 2008.
“We thought Santa Tecla was a good way to live because of its location and that it was affordable for us as a family and close to San Salvador.”
Also: Unpublished photos of the Las Colinas tragedy were captured minutes after the 2001 earthquake
Remember how many families and friends questioned the purchase because of what happened six years ago “Before it was more common to say where we lived and people were surprised or scared because they thought it was an uninhabitable place.”
Image after the 2001 Las Colinas earthquake.
“When we decided to decide Las Colinas, people associated the destruction caused by the mountain range, but in reality today it is a quiet place, yes, when it trembles we are the first to talk to friends and family to find out how we do it, but as a passage, we are very in touch and I think the last thing we are talking about is the damage of the earthquake ”.
“Maybe, since I didn’t live here, it doesn’t scare me so much because I don’t have that relationship, not like other neighbors who just remember crying. I know the story because I read and heard stories from neighbors, but I have nothing to do with the tragedy.
Milena assures that after 13 years she sees her house and does not see the need to move, indeed, she assures that the area has been populated with several businesses and that the place is very busy.
Also: Las Colinas tragedy survivors commemorate loved ones after 19 years of earthquake
Jasmine Flores was ten years old and remembers how that morning she begged her parents to take her and her brother to the bank, so everyone went to the family to do the paperwork. No one will stay in the house. Jasmine lives right next to the landslide. His house was damaged in the garage and in a room on the second floor.
When he returned from the bank and met the tragedy, what happened did not weigh too much. “I remember seeing the bodies of the neighbors of the houses across the street being arranged. This was kept in my mind and the truth, although I did not understand, I was afraid. When I grew up I understood everything ”.
Jazmín and her family did not live in the house for two years until they decided to return because of the robberies that took place in the abandoned houses. It became his home again. They couldn’t just leave him like that.
“It is a good place to live and if there was a house for sale here, I would not hesitate to buy it. It is a very accessible, safe place, and the board of directors has managed the mitigation works, so that a disaster will not happen again ”.
Jazmín assures that after 20 years he cannot continue to stigmatize his community. “Gradually, houses have risen in price. They used to be very cheap. There are several trade exchanges, the banks have simplified the procedures for home loans ”.
She is confident that the upward attenuation work is a guarantee of safety, so that the mountain does not collapse again. “We are running in danger anywhere in this country and I believe that life must continue, just as the vegetation was born again, as well as our lives.
In 2006, Guillermo Ayala had the opportunity to buy a house in Santa Tecla, a house that was completely abandoned. The previous owners had left it because it was a few meters where the avalanche passed and the bank finished it.
His daughter Alexandra knew about the tragedy because an aunt lived near Las Colinas. “Thank God nothing happened to them. They told my father that I was selling this house and that’s how I came from Sensuntepeque to live here. “
Several houses were abandoned after the earthquake, but found new owners who bought them. “There is always fear. When it trembles or rains, we can’t stop thinking that it will happen again “, adds Nelson Ayala, Alexandra’s brother.
Guillermo had to buy in one payment because no one lent him money. The perception of insecurity has passed over the years. “With nature we can never be sure, but I think mitigation works.”
For Alejandro Flores, who has been president of the Las Colinas neighborhood association for more than 20 years, he says there is no technical report saying residents are at risk of living in the area. “This is a safe place, of course, the risk will never be zero, because, as anywhere, it is impossible. Today it seems a stable place, but in reality there is no study to certify it and there is no political will to do so.
“Although it is true, OPAMSS presented a study based on what happened at that time, after that no one came. These are just the mitigation works that have been done and that we will continue to ask for so that they do not happen again on January 13, 2001 “, he adds.