One of the acts to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the “1972 Managua Earthquake” will be a National Disaster Simulation, locally known as a “Simulacro”.
The aim of the exercise is to prepare and improve on response measures to a real disaster, such as the 1972 earthquake.
The officials from the Sistema Nacional para la Prevención, Mitigación y Atención de Desastres, known by its acronym in Spanish as “SINAPRED” (National System for Disaster Prevention, Mitigation and Attention) have announced that the simulated disaster will have emphasis placed on protection measures in earthquakes and landslides, however other situations may develop during the simulation.
The head of SINAPRED, Dr. Guillermo said; “This coming Thursday’s disaster simulation supposes that a strong earthquake occurred in San Juan del Sur on the Pacific coast and this has also affected Managua. The components of the simulation will include abrupt landslides as well as a tsunami”.
Time and Date;
The Simulation will take place on Thursday, December 22nd 2022 at 10:00AM.
Sirens will be activated.
How it Might Affect You;
Depending where you are and the script of the simulation in your area, you may encounter the Armed Forces and the National Police controlling traffic and pedestrians. This may cause a disruption in your day for a few hours while the simulation is on. In the past, certain areas have had homes and/or businesses evacuated and people guided to higher ground as part of a local (Municipal) evacuation plan. (See Below)
Dr. Guillermo has announced that they intend to put the Community Family Plan into practice during this drill in order that families understand what is required during the real thing. They will also be verifying the protection measures and evacuations in safe places in Nicaragua.
“This Thursday, December 22 at 10:00 am, all Nicaraguans will put family plans into practice” said Dr. Guillermo.
According to Guillermo, “Throughout the country, mainly in those places with larger concentrates of people, the evacuation to safe places will take place”.
1972 Managua Earthquake
The Managua Earthquake hit at about 30 minutes past midnight on December 23rd, 1972. It was a magnitude 6.2 on the Richter scale (as was used back then). The epicenter was the city center of Managua, a diameter of about 5 kilometers which shook for 6 seconds. The quake is believed to have killed 4,000 – 11,000 of the population, injured 20,000 and left 300,000 homeless.
