Tuesday, August 10, 7:30 a.m. in Cali (Colombia). In just four minutes, the city, which is just starting its day, will be shaken by an earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale, the largest magnitude in Colombia’s history since the Tumaco earthquake (8.1) in 1979. The Saavedra Caycedo family, who live on the top floor of the four-story María Elvira building, located in Cuarto de Legua, a middle/upper-class neighborhood in the south of the city, are preparing to start what seems like a routine day. At home are the couple Jairo Saavedra, 63, and Victoria Caycedo, 61, their three daughters, the triplets Sofía, Isabella, and Ana María, 23, and an uncle, Diego Caycedo, Victoria’s brother.
Although the earthquake’s epicenter is located about 150 kilometers away, in San José del Palmar, in the Chocó region, Cali, with 2.3 million inhabitants and also known as “the branch of heaven,” will be the locality most affected by the disaster. Of the 314 deaths recorded nationwide at the time of writing, 141, nearly half, were in Cali. Of the 121 buildings that collapsed totally or partially, 107 were in Cali. About thirty of these buildings collapsed completely. This was the case with the Saavedra Caycedo block. At the moment it collapsed, there were 15 people inside, of whom only one would be rescued alive.
In every tragedy, there is a human story that moves people deeply, and in the case of the earthquake, the one that has gripped Colombian society with a clenched heart and suspense is that of the triplet Ana María Saavedra Caycedo: how will she react upon learning she has lost her entire family? Who will tell her? Will she move forward alone? Where and how will she live?
The most detailed account of what happened inside the María Elvira building during the earthquake was given by Carlos Saavedra, the paternal uncle of the triplets, in an interview on the France 24 television network. “Ana María was leaving with her triplet sisters. The two sisters were ahead going down the stairs, and she was passing through the main door of the apartment when the earthquake struck. The door, which was very thin cedar, fell on top of her. That served as a cushion to soften the debris, and the upper part, her head, remained outside the rubble, which allowed her to scream,” he recounted in a phone interview on August 15 about how she survived. “When the earthquake passed, five minutes later, neighbors began to come out and heard her scream and saw her face and head in perfect condition. They lifted the debris with their hands, rescued her, and since the door was smooth, it allowed them to pull her out and put her in an ambulance,” he highlighted the promptness with which the neighbors acted.
On the way to the medical center, he added, Ana María asked a paramedic to call the number of a cousin she knew by heart. She told her she was alive, that a door had saved her, but that her parents and sisters were still inside. The family immediately mobilized. Uncle Carlos, who lived six blocks away, didn’t even think about taking the car; he ran to the building. “When I arrived, there were already about 20 volunteers, without helmets or gloves, lifting debris, but no noises were heard except two dogs barking. Unfortunately, my conclusion as an architect was ‘there is no life here,’ because the building collapsed from back to front and fell onto the sidewalk, onto the street, and the slabs, the layers, were stacked one on top of the other with a difference of 30 to 40 centimeters. It crushed everyone,” he concluded with astonishing calm.
On the same day as the earthquake, August 10, a few hours after Ana María’s rescue, her triplet sister Sofía was found dead. The parents were found—embraced, in their bedroom—in the early hours of August 12. There is no record of the exact moment uncle Diego was found, but the hope of finding the third triplet, Isabella, alive was extinguished on August 13. “That night we rescued the last victim [from the building], who was my other triplet niece, my goddaughter Isabella. And at six-thirty in the evening, we held a minute of silence, completing the 14 victims rescued,” said Carlos Saavedra.
The triplets’ uncle emphasized the strong bond the three sisters had, inseparable to the point that they had always taken the same steps in life. They had graduated a year earlier in International Trade from Icesi University. Not long ago, the three had returned to Colombia after doing internships together in Paris, where they stayed for six months. The earthquake caught them as they were leaving home to go to their jobs at a multinational company.
The post that @djprilla made on Instagram the day after the earthquake has four million views and 110,000 “likes.” The young man tearfully recounted that just hours before the earthquake, the night before, the parents, Jairo and Vicky, had been at La Caldera, the venue where he DJed. Jairo had requested the song Siempre Alegre and was already leaving the venue when Prilla stopped him so they wouldn’t leave without dancing to it. “This song that is about to play has a very beautiful message. If you go through a difficult time, it will remind you how beautiful life is,” the DJ introduced the song, who said Jairo told him he wanted the lyrics on his tombstone. It starts: “You have to live life always happy / After you die, what’s the use / You have to enjoy all pleasures / When you’re going to die, no one knows / Since life is short, I live it…”
To help Ana María, her family has opened a petition on Gofundme that has already raised over $140,000.