The story of Omayra Sánchez is one of the most well-known from the Armero tragedy of 1985. Telling it today does not mean reopening a wound to provoke emotion, but rather questioning the meaning of care, institutional responsibility, and collective memory in the face of a preventable disaster.
Temporary survival in extreme conditions
Omayra Sánchez was thirteen years old when, on the night of November 13, 1985, the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano triggered a series of mudflows that destroyed the town of Armero. She became trapped under the rubble of her home, with her body submerged in water and debris, surviving for approximately sixty hours.
During that time, she remained conscious and communicated with rescuers, medical personnel, and journalists on the scene. She accepted food and drink and answered the questions posed to her. Her composure struck the international public, especially given the complete lack of adequate medical resources.
From a clinical standpoint, her condition was irreversible. Her lower limbs were pinned under heavy structures, and any attempt to free her without a surgical environment would have caused fatal bleeding or immediate shock. The absence of anesthesia, blood for transfusions, antibiotics, and intensive care made any life-saving intervention impossible. In this sense, Omayra did not die due to individual negligence but due to technical and logistical impossibility.
Armero: a disaster foretold
The tragedy of Armero was not solely the result of an unpredictable natural event. In the months leading up to the eruption, several signs of volcanic activity had been recorded. However, the absence of an evacuation plan, the underestimation of risk, and fragmented communication between scientific and political authorities prevented an effective preventive response.
The mudflow reached the town in the early hours of the morning while people were asleep. In a matter of minutes, Armero was buried. Over 23,000 people died, making it one of the most severe disasters in Latin America in the 20th century.
Omayra’s story became symbolic not because it was unique, but because it was visible. Thousands of other victims, many of them children, remained nameless and faceless in public accounts.
(Insurmountable) limits of medical intervention and possible forms of assistance
From a clinical perspective, Omayra Sánchez’s case represents an extreme example of prolonged trauma in an environment incompatible with survival. Continuous exposure to contaminated water, compression of the lower limbs, hypothermia, and prolonged ischemia would have caused irreversible tissue damage, with a high risk of systemic infection and fatal outcome.
In such contexts, when there is no realistic margin for effective therapeutic intervention, healthcare assumes a function other than curative. Rescuers opted for a form of non-technical support, providing presence, communication, and containment of suffering, preventing the patient’s isolation in her final hours.
In these circumstances, care is not synonymous with the possibility of healing, but with the protection of human dignity, through respectful accompaniment until the end of life.
Institutional responsibility and global inequalities
The Armero tragedy highlighted serious structural deficiencies: lack of coordination, insufficient rescue resources, delays in national and international responses. It also revealed a broader inequality: disasters affecting countries with fewer resources often receive delayed and inadequate responses.
Armero was not only a natural tragedy but the result of a chain of missed decisions. In this sense, Omayra’s story challenges not only Colombia at that time but also how the world handles risk, prevention, and the value of human life.
Public denunciation and debate
The photograph taken by photojournalist Frank Fournier in the hours before Omayra Sánchez’s death became one of the most recognizable images of the Armero disaster. Its international dissemination sparked waves of outrage and controversy—not only for the visual impact of the portrait but also for what it seemed to reveal: the helplessness of the rescue efforts and the responsibilities of the Colombian government, accused of ignoring clear scientific warnings about the risk of a Nevado del Ruiz eruption.
The image helped shift public discourse from the plane of natural fatality to that of political and institutional responsibility. At the same time, it sparked an ethical debate that continues today regarding the role of photojournalism in disasters: necessary testimony or exploitation of individual suffering? Historical documentation or risk of symbolic reduction of the person portrayed?
Omayra in literature
Omayra Sánchez’s story has also resonated in literature. Isabel Allende’s story De barro estamos hechos, included in the collection Eva Luna racconta, is directly inspired by the events in Armero and is narrated from the perspective of a man present during the girl’s final hours. In a later text, Allende explicitly addressed the origin of that narrative, writing:
“Her large black eyes, full of resignation and wisdom, still haunt my dreams. Writing this story did not exorcise her ghost.”
This passage from journalism to literary narrative shows how Omayra’s memory transcended journalistic reporting to become part of a broader reflection on suffering, testimony, and the impossibility of fully making sense of loss.
A memorial has since been created on the site where the town of Armero once stood. Within it, a small mausoleum is dedicated specifically to the memory of Omayra Sánchez. On the twentieth anniversary of the tragedy, local newspapers and magazines commemorated both the event as a whole and the girl’s death, confirming her central role in the collective memory of the disaster.
Telling the story as an act of responsibility
Telling the story of Omayra Sánchez today is not a narrative exercise but an act of historical and civic responsibility. When prevention fails and care is no longer possible, what remains is memory. Words cannot save lives, but they can preserve the meaning of loss, prevent oblivion, and contribute to a more conscious collective reflection.
Omayra Sánchez could not be saved. However, the way we choose to tell her story can still teach us something about limits, dignity, and the duty not to repeat the same mistakes.
Sources:
1. Armero Disaster and Nevado del Ruiz
United States Geological Survey. (n.d.). Armero destroyed by lahars from Nevado del Ruiz volcano, Colombia. U.S. Department of the Interior. https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/armero-destroyed-lahars-nevado-del-ruiz-volcano-colombia
National Research Council. (1991). The eruption of Nevado del Ruiz volcano Colombia, South America, November 13, 1985 (Chapter 6: Disaster Impacts). The National Academies Press. https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/1784/chapter/8
Encyclopaedia Britannica. (n.d.). Armero disaster. https://www.britannica.com/event/Armero-disaster (usa il titolo esatto nella tua bibliografia)
2. Medical Intervention, Emergencies and Clinical Limits
World Health Organization. (2021). Classification and minimum standards for emergency medical teams. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240029330
World Health Organization. (2016). Emergency medical teams: Minimum technical standards and recommendations for rehabilitation. World Health Organization. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/252809
3. Bioethics: Dignity and Non-Curative Care
UNESCO. (2005). Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000146180
Beauchamp, T. L., & Childress, J. F. (2019). Principles of biomedical ethics (8th ed.). Oxford University Press. (non sempre disponibile gratuitamente online ma è uno standard citato in bioetica)
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