Photo: In the wake of the 1972 earthquake in Nicaragua, 10,000 people lost their lives
In 1972, a 6.5-magnitude earthquake devastated Nicaragua’s capital city. In the wake of the tragedy, 10,000 people lost their lives and 50,000 buildings – many of them homes – were leveled.
For almost 40 years, many of those left homeless by the earthquake were still living as refugees, which is really what they are. Over 100 families have been living in buildings abandoned by the wealthy in Managua for nearly four decades, initially believing the living conditions were only temporary.
“The so-called squatter settlements in the ruins are nothing more than earthquake refugees who never got a place to live after the quake,” Nicaraguan historian Roberto Sánchez Ramírez told the Christian Science Monitor.
Now, thanks to a government program, the 103 families that were living in what had become known as “the ruins” will finally be relocated as the last of the government’s efforts to rectify the damage caused by the earthquake.
It is believed that the poor choice in building design was responsible for the high death toll and the destruction of an estimated 80 percent of the capital city. Many speculate, that the capital should simply be moved, as it sits on a fault line and will likely experience more earthquakes.
