HISTORICAL SEISMICITY STUDY IN THE BUCARAMANGA (COLOMBIA) REGION

Abstract

In spite of the fact that Bucaramanga is a seismoactive region of Colombian territory that in recent years shows the major production of earthquakes, it does not have historical studies that revea its seismic activity in the preinstrumental period. As a contribution to fil! this vacuum, the present study. using the intensiveist and extensiveist methods. begins with the systematic revision of newspaper sources, in order to intensify the knowledge of the cataloged earthquakes, on one hand, and to get the major quantity of new seismic notices, on the other hand. As an initial result of this research it is possible to tell that until now the Bucaramanga region has not been the scene of catastrophic earthquakes, whose effects can be unhappily rernembered by the population; also it is important to emphasize that from 1930. On average every 5 years, at least 2 quakes are sensed in Bucaramanga city. and that in a period of 26 years, Between 1950 and 1976, about 45 earthquakes occurred. In spite of exhauslive search, The results presented in this paper must be considerate as preliminary and urge to continue this study, with one fundamental goal, the assessment of the degree of intensity for every recognized earthquake.