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Thread: Omayra Sanchez

  1. #1
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    Omayra Sanchez

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omayra_S%C3%A1nchez
    Omayra Sanchez was a 13-year old victim of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano which erupted on November 13, 1985 in Armero, Colombia, causing massive lahars which killed nearly 25,000. She was trapped for 3 days in water, concrete, and other debris before she died.
    Her image was taken by photojournalist Frank Fournier shortly before she died. The image caused controversy due to the photographer's work and the Colombian government's inaction in working to prevent the Armero tragedy despite the forewarning that had been available, when it was published worldwide after the young girl's death.
    Omayra Sanchez was 13 years old at the time and lived with her parents, her brother and an uncle. However, prior to the tragedy, her mother had traveled to Bogotá on business. The night of the disaster, she and her family had awakened and heard of the volcanic fluid going in their direction. In the process of evacuating to a nearby mount, Omayra's grandmother fell into a water aqueduct hole, and Omayra herself stopped with the intent to rescue her trapped sibling, when the flow reached them. Omayra got trapped under her own home's concrete and debris and could not escape. When rescue teams tried to help her, they realized that her legs were trapped.
    Omayra was trapped up to her neck in water, concrete, and other debris for three days before she succumbed to gangrene and hypothermia. During three nights of agony, Omayra seemed strong but was suffering. According to Cristina Echandia, a journalist who kept records of the events, Omayra sang and had normal conversations with the people who were trying to help her. The little girl was thirsty and scared. On the third night, Omayra began hallucinating, saying that she did not want to be late for school. At some point she asked the people to leave her so they could rest.
    Television coverage of the disaster introduced her to the world when she was still alive. The photo shown here was taken hours before her death and published after her death.
    The Armero catastrophe came shortly after the M-19 guerrilla group's raid and subsequent Palace of Justice siege on November 6, worsening an already chaotic situation. After her death, some blamed the Colombian government's inaction and indifference to warning signs prior to the volcano's eruption for Omayra's death and the Armero tragedy.[
    The volcano Nevado del Ruiz is still active, according to the Volcano Watch Center in Colombia. However, at this point no other city or town remains close enough to be seriously affected in the event of an eruption. The only city, Armero, no longer exists and was turned into a memorial of the disaster where only crosses can be seen.
    Omayra Sanchez herself remains in the memory of those who followed her suffering and death. Some local newspapers commemorated both the 20 years of the volcanic eruption as well as Omayra's death, and her case was also mentioned in TV and radio commemorations. Nonetheless, no specific monument has been created in her name as of yet.
    Isabel Allende's "Of Clay We Are Created" is based on these events.
    A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

  2. #2
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    What a haunting picture

    Very, very good post

  3. #3
    Hobbes12 Guest
    Thats wicked...

  4. #4
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    A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

  5. #5
    MorbidMolly Guest
    WOW Ichy....you outdid yourself this time....par excellence

  6. #6
    Long Gone Day Guest
    Oh, my God..

  7. #7
    MorbidMolly Guest

  8. #8
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    A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

  9. #9
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    Wow, she was so beautiful. The look in her eyes is so haunting. Poor girl. This is so SAD

  10. #10
    Guest Guest
    Haunting pictures.

  11. #11
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    Related to Filthy Sanchez?
    I am a sick puppy....woof woof!!!
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    Carping the living shit out of the Diem. - Me!!
    http://www.pinterest.com/neilmpenny

  12. #12
    Guest Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by neilmpenny View Post
    Related to Filthy Sanchez?

  13. #13
    carebearsluv Guest
    how sad She was a brave little girl.

  14. #14
    Northern Lights Guest
    This is too sad

  15. #15
    Lisamarie Guest
    jesus christ....

  16. #16
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    Any idea how they got her out after she died? I wonder if they did some sort of amputation.

  17. #17
    NOVSTORM Guest
    God how horrible for this child.!

  18. #18
    Curl_up_N_dye Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by neilmpenny View Post
    Related to Filthy Sanchez?

    Mr. Penny....Mr. Neil M. Penny....please pick up your one way ticket to hell immediately....

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Curl_up_N_dye View Post
    Mr. Penny....Mr. Neil M. Penny....please pick up your one way ticket to hell immediately....
    ***giggle****

  20. #20
    Northern Lights Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Curl_up_N_dye View Post
    Mr. Penny....Mr. Neil M. Penny....please pick up your one way ticket to hell immediately....

  21. #21
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    That child was just gorgeous.

  22. #22
    RubySlippers Guest
    her irises look too big for her eyes--- they are huge. i wonder it if it is a play on the redness of her eyes - the fumes coming from below must have been horrendously irratating. so haunting....

  23. #23
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    OMG her eyes. It's her eyes that bother me.
    The most dangerous woman of all is the one who refuses to rely on your sword to save her because she carries her own.

    - R.H. Sin

  24. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by KCSunshine View Post
    Wow Ich. Amazing post. How horrific. When I saw the first photo I assumed it was an 'artist's rendering' because it looked like a mannequin. Her eyes are so glassy. Sad.

    Also, in the first photos, are they her hands in front of her? They look like a man's hands, albiet a dead man's hands.
    Im sure her hands are waterlogged.
    A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

  25. #25
    carebearsluv Guest
    Man, I have been thinking about this story all day. It looks like she realized she was going to die, and just was in peace.

    Damn!

  26. #26
    In a Sea of Sorrow Guest
    Poor, poor baby. This story was heart breaking.

  27. #27
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    Another great post, Ich! Kudos.
    The most dangerous woman of all is the one who refuses to rely on your sword to save her because she carries her own.

    - R.H. Sin

  28. #28
    cubbiecatz Guest
    I can't stop thinking about this poor girl

  29. #29
    siniestra Guest
    Here's a website with information on her. There is also a video in which she is saying goodbye to her mother and father and asking them to pray for her. It's in Spanish but that's the loose translation of it.

    http://www.worldsfamousphotos.com/om...chez-1985.html

  30. #30
    AnneOminous Guest
    Incredible, thank you for posting it. That video brought tears to my eyes. "Adios, madre."

  31. #31
    Long Gone Day Guest
    That first image I just can't get out of my mind. Her eyes, with all the blood in them...and you know she's going to die.....Awful...

  32. #32
    Maruz83 Guest
    Wow.. that was haunting !

  33. #33
    RaRaRamona Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by siniestra View Post
    Here's a website with information on her. There is also a video in which she is saying goodbye to her mother and father and asking them to pray for her. It's in Spanish but that's the loose translation of it.

    http://www.worldsfamousphotos.com/om...chez-1985.html
    Well I'm definitely wishing I hadn't watched that. How horrible. Hopefully if that happened today her legs could be amputated - better no feet than dying like that. I would have asked for a sedative.

  34. #34
    cherryghost Guest
    Oh that is so sad and so horrible! She was beautiful and unearthly!

  35. #35
    carebearsluv Guest
    Does anyone know exactly why her eyes are that color? Was it the hypothermia, or the infections?

  36. #36
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    Quote Originally Posted by carebearsluv View Post
    Does anyone know exactly why her eyes are that color? Was it the hypothermia, or the infections?
    http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...9125850AAwvakR
    A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

  37. #37
    Tonights Guest
    By God, let someone love me enough to give me an overdose if that ever happens to me. I can't imagine how she must have suffered.

  38. #38
    Noreen Guest
    Oh my God...

    May the Angels hold her close now

  39. #39
    carebearsluv Guest

    Thanks

  40. #40
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    God.. why couldn't they get her out???
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

    "I will be buried in a spring loaded casket filled with confetti, and a future archaeologist will have one awesome day at work."

  41. #41
    pvezz Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by siniestra View Post
    Here's a website with information on her. There is also a video in which she is saying goodbye to her mother and father and asking them to pray for her. It's in Spanish but that's the loose translation of it.

    http://www.worldsfamousphotos.com/om...chez-1985.html

    Oh, Jesus, that video. That poor, beautiful child.

  42. #42
    rjbrasher Guest

  43. #43
    LightoftheMoon Guest
    Yes, it's her eyes. The poor little girl. Seems like she did her best to cope with being stuck- singing and conversing. It's heartbreaking to read that she didn't want to be late for school.

    That she asked her parents to pray for her- she wasn't giving up her faith in religion. She looks like she's in physical agony, but I also get a sense that she was at peace with her situation.

  44. #44
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    I saw something on volcanoes the other night and I thought of her...
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

    "I will be buried in a spring loaded casket filled with confetti, and a future archaeologist will have one awesome day at work."

  45. #45
    ...juat learned about this...breaks my heart...

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