They were just small children, or had not been born, when the tragedy occurred in Els Pujols de Santa Tecla. They barely understood the dimension of what happened. Today they feel good in the place that was the icon of a national tragedy.
An earthquake shook El Salvador at 11:33 a.m. on January 13, 2001. Its magnitude was 7.6. One of the most affected places was the Els Pujols colony, in Santa Tecla. An avalanche, which broke out in the El Balsam mountain range, buried 200 homes and killed 500 people, nearly half of all deaths nationwide.
Today marks 20 years since the tragedy, its inhabitants live normally every day. Milena Bahamón is 13 years old living with her family two passages after where the landslide of Els Pujols occurred, where the avalanche of land failed to cover the houses, and today she remembers when in 2008 her mother bought the house.
“We believed that Santa Tecla was a good choice to live in, because of its location and that it was affordable for us as a family and was close to San Salvador.”
In addition: Unpublished photographs of the tragedy in Els Pujols taken minutes after the 2001 earthquake
He recalls how many family and friends questioned the purchase for what happened six years ago “Before it was more common for us to say where we lived and people were surprised or scared to believe it was an uninhabitable place.”
Image after the 2001 earthquake in Els Pujols.
“People associate when we decided Els Pujols to 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 whom friends and family speak to us to know how we are, but in reality as a passage we are very much in touch and I think the last thing we talk about is the devastation of the earthquake. “
“Maybe the way we didn’t live here doesn’t scare me so much because I don’t make this relationship, not like other neighbors who just remember to start crying. I know the story because I’ve read and heard stories from neighbors, but I don’t have that connection. with tragedy “.
Milena says that after 13 years she sees her home and does not see a need to move, moreover, she says that the area has been populated with more businesses and the place very busy.
Also: Survivors of the tragedy in Els Pujols commemorate their loved ones after 19 years of earthquake
Jasmine Flowers was ten years old and she remembers how that morning she prayed to her parents to take her and her brother to the bank and so they were all in the family doing the paperwork. No one will be left in the house. Jasmine lives right at the spot where the landslide happened. His house was damaged in the garage and a quarter of the second floor.
When he returned from the bench, and encountered the tragedy, he did not measure much what happened. “I remember seeing how the bodies of the neighbors in the front houses fit in. That stuck in my mind and the truth, even though I didn’t understand it, I was scared. When I was growing up I was understanding everything.”
Jasmine and her family did not live in the house for two years until they decided to return due to looting of abandoned houses. It became his home again. They couldn’t leave it like that.
“It’s a good place to live and if there was a house here for sale, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy it. It’s a very accessible, safe place and the management has managed mitigation work so that no disaster happens again.”
Jasmine says that after 20 years he cannot continue to stigmatize his community. “Gradually houses have been rising in price. Before they were very cheap. There is more trade, banks have streamlined procedures for home loans.”
She is confident that uphill mitigation work is a guarantee of safety so that the mountain does not come down again. “Danger we run anywhere in this country and I think life has to go on, just as vegetation has been born again, so has our lives.”
In 2006 Guillem Ayala had the opportunity to buy a house in Santa Tecla, a house that was completely abandoned. The previous owners had left it to be a few meters where the avalanche passed and the bank was finishing it off.
His daughter Alexandra knew of the tragedy because an aunt lived near Els Pujols. “Thank God nothing happened to them. They told my father they were selling this house and that’s how we 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 about what will happen again,” adds Nandra Ayala, Alexandra’s brother.
Guillermo had to buy for a fee because no one lent him money. The perception of insecurity has passed over the years. “With nature we can never be sure, but I do think mitigation work works.”
For Alejandro Flores, who was president of the Els Pujols residents’ association for more than 20 years, he says that there is no technical report that says that the residents are at risk of living in the area. “Here is a safe place, of course, the risk never came to zero because as everywhere this is impossible. Today it seems a stable place, but in reality there is no study that certifies it and no political will to do -ho “.
“While it is true the OPAMSS presented a study based on what happened at that time, then no one has ever come. There are only mitigation works that have been done and we will continue to demand that they be done so that it does not return to be repeated on January 13, 2001 “he adds.