July 30, 1962 Earthquake: Mistrato, Manizales, Colombia

July 30, 1962, 20:18:52.3 UTC, 5.2 N, 76.4 W, depth 69 km, magnitude 6.75. 47 killed, 300 injured in Caldas Province; property damage over 400,000 square mile area. Felt at Balboa Height, C.Z. (reference #45)

July 30, 1962, 20:18:43.3 UTC, 5 N, 76.3 W, depth 45 km, magnitude 6.9. The earthquake of 30 July 1962 was the most

violent felt in Colombia for 10 years; it caused over

40 deaths and injured over 300; at Manizales, capital

of the state of Caldas, one of the cathedral towers

fell in, crushing several people, including the poet

Guillermo Gonzales Ospina and his wife; the aqueduct

supplying the town with water was destroyed. At

Pereira, about 500 km south-west of Manizales, a

factory employing 200 women fell on the workers.

At Cali, in the upper valley of the Rio Cauca, the

Church of Perpetual Aid collapsed, killing at least 5 people. Damage and victims were reported in towns

often quite far from the epicentre; even in Bogota,

cracks appeared in buildings.

The nature of the damage was carefully studied,

in particular that suffered by the church in Cali, the

Don Felix factory at Pereira, the San Jose Church

at Pereira, Manizales cathedral, and the churches

and houses of Sonson. (reference #1040)