EscucharSAN JOSE - Mud and stones that slid down a hill in the Pacayas area, province of Cartago, late afternoon last Friday killed at least five people, left one person missing, and wrought destruction over 10 square kilometers (247.1 acres), the National Emergency Commission (NEC) reported.
NEC officials said that the five deaths took place at a Presidio Creek bridge, where the avalanche trapped three cars and killed four of their five passengers. Franklin Alfaro was rescued by a Red Cross ambulance which happened to be cruising the area at the time of the event.
The confirmed death roster includes Rafael Serrano-Vargas, Mauricio Montero-Ulloa, José María Jiménez, and Gerardo Bolaños-Jimpénez, who were aboard the vehicles. Farmer Víctor Serrano-Rojas was killed when trying to wade the creek.
A sixth victim, unidentified as yet, lived in one of six houses that were razed by the avalanche, according to NEC reports.
The official tally includes also 34 people evacuated, 24 other houses severely damaged, four bridges destroyed, and 2 kilometers (1.25 miles) of road rendered utterly useless.
Hundreds of other residents of Pacayas and Cervantes are suffering the consequences of the destruction of the aqueducts that supplied their needs.
From the brink
Just like Franklin Alfaro survived to tell the story thanks to Red Cross volunteers, such luck came for Franca Rivera from two of her neighbors, Abilio Granados and Donald Rivera, who ignored the risk and took her to safe ground as her house slid with the avalanche.
Teresa Masís was able to leave her house before it gave way. Marcos Brenes and his daughter Carla, 11, were spared because they were visiting a relative when their house disappeared.
José Brenes, 53, remembered that a similar event occurred in the area in 1952, when 12 people were killed.
Abilio Granados complained that, several months ago, residents in the area had requested that the municipal government of the Alvarado canton send equipment to broaden the bed of the creek, because they feared an avalanche.
``Had they addressed our request, this tragedy would have been prevented,'' Granados claimed.
Man-made
According to geologist Carlos Madrigal, from the Costa Rican Power and Telecommunications Institution (ICE in Spanish), the avalanche was most likely the result of the water logging of the land through which the Presidio Creek runs.
The expert explained that the terrain in the area consists mostly of the residue of eruptions from the Irazú Volcano, which were recorded in 1963, and which are not compact.
But, he pointed out, ``we are talking of very steep hills, which were deforested following no technical criteria in order to dedicate them to agriculture.
``Most likely, the capacity of the terrain to hold water was surpassed by recent heavy rains. The avalanche was the most predictable outcome.''
