In the early hours of this Sunday, May 14, Mother’s Day in Colombia, the Colombian Geological Service (SGC) registered an earthquake of magnitude 5.0 in the municipality of Acacías – Meta. According to the SGC report, the strong earthquake occurred at 1:04 am
With a superficial depth of 30 km, this seismic event was especially felt in Bogotá, Medellín, Pereira and the rest of the country. So far no emergencies or affectations to the community have been reported. However, users on social networks reported the magnitude of the event.
In Acacías, where the movement had its epicenter, the earthquake woke up the community. “I was in Acacias and it felt STRONG, fortunately we are all fine, the Android earthquake alert was very good, it sounded immediately… WHAT A SCARED!”. said a citizen through Twitter.
I am in Acacias and he felt STRONG, I got out of bed and lost my sleep, and there was another aftershock… WHAT A SCARY!… I won’t be able to sleep all night anymore…😮😮
– Manuel Blanco (@ManuelAndresBla) May 14, 2023
This tremor is part of the 2,500 telluric movements that are registered in the country each month, whose activity occurs especially on the coasts of the Pacific Ocean, in the Caribbean region, around the three mountain ranges, where the seismic nest of Bucaramanga.
As explained in previous days by the SGC, Colombia is a seismically active country, which means that, due to its geological and tectonic configuration, there are many plates that are in contact in a large part of the national territory.
Likewise, the Colombian Geological Service clarified that there are some locations in the country where earthquakes can be recorded daily and accumulate 60% of the seismicity in Colombia: in which the Bucaramanga Seismic Nest stands out.
A seismic nest “is a region where an unusual concentration of seismic activity can be observed more or less continuously.” The special thing about this phenomenon is that only three have been documented in the world.
These correspond to the seismic nests of Vrancea (Romania), in Eastern Europe, and of the Hindu-Kush (Afghanistan), on the imposing mountain range of the Himalayas that is home to some of the highest peaks in the world.
“From the SGC, the entity in charge of monitoring and reporting earthquakes in the country, we remember that there is no scientifically proven method that allows earthquakes to be predicted,” the entity concluded.