CIA-RDP96-00789R001500610001-8

Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R001500610001-8
VNOFORN - HANDLE VIA SKEET CHANNELS ONLY
PROJECT SUN STREAK (U)
WARNING NOTICE:
INTELLIGENCE SOURCES AND METHODS INVOLVED
PROJECT NUMBER :
0126
SESSION NUMBER :
1
DATE OF SESSION:
7 JUN 88
DATE OF REPORT:
7 JUN 88
START:
1434
END :
1507
METHODOLOGY:
CRV
VIEWER IDENTIFIER:
025
1. (S/NF/SK)
MISSION: Stage 2 training. Site was the town of
Armero, Columbia on the day of a natural disaster (town washed away by
mud slide). Monitor intent was for the viewer to experience and
describe percepts associated with moving mud.
2. (S/NF/SK)
VIEWER TASKING:
Coordinates 0126/1185.
3. (S/NF/SK)
COMMENTS:
Excellent session from beginning to end.
025
experienced the first strong Aesthetic Impact (AI) .
4. (S/NF/SK)
EVALUATION:
3
SG1J
CPT, USA
/NOFORN - SKEET CHANNELS ONLY
CLASSIFIED BY:
DIA-DT
DECLASSIFY
OADR
Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R001500610001-8

UU
moving magma and usually are the
's
first signs of an impending major
eruption. The U.S. Geological Sur-
vey said yesterday that Nevado del
Ruiz suffered "two catastrophic
eruptions" Wednesday night be-
tween 11 p.m. and midnight.
1w
to
br
y
bf
5)
in
't
ly
10
The back-to-back eruptions on
the northeast flank of the mountain
melted enough ice and snow on the
mountaintop to trigger what the
USGS called "two catastrophic mud
flows down the northeast flank,"
which were channeled directly into
the Lagunillas River in the broad
valley at the base of the mountain.
Eyewitnesses said the mud in four
and tallest of six volcanoes strung
out in a line through central Colom-
. the Andes Mountains, Nevado del
Ruiz has also been the most de-
structive of the six Colombian vol-
canoes, erupting in a "thunderous"
explosion on March 12, 1595, and
erupting again in 1828 and 1829.
The volcano was "still smoking" in
1831 after its two 19th-century
eruptions.
The Colombian mountain was
also the scene of a major earth-
quake on Feb. 19, 1845, that shook
· loose enough snow and ice on top of
the mountain to trigger one of the
down the valley to the Rio Mag-
dalena, killing an estimated 1,000
people" then living in the valley.
Why did Nevado del Ruiz go al-
most 400 years without a major
eruption? Geologists say they don't
-- know, but many suspect it is in the
makeup of the magma that lies be-
low the volcanoes that formed the
Andes Mountains.
"The magmas in the Andes are
very viscous and sickier, let's say,
than the magmas that lie beneath
The upward movement of magma
the Hawaiian volcanoes," Christian- .. can continue off and on for years,
the weight of the rocks atove th
are holding it in. The result can
another eruption. The twin eru;
of Nevado del Ruiz Wednesd
night could thus signal the start
an eruptive period that could la
another 10 years.
There is also the chance
ti
Nevado del Ruiz will have an impa
on the world's weather. Dependi
on how much sulfur dioxide gas
pumps into the upper atmospher
the erupting volcano could send
cloud of gas and dust around
world blocking just enough suntg
from reaching the surface to
the earth by a degree or two.
0
0
MILES
MOUNTAIN
Magdalena
River
0
(Cauca
River
Gually Mariquita
Honda
Manizales
Armero
Chinchina
Pereira
Libano
Lagunilla
NEVADO
Bogota
Cartago
DEL
RUIZ
Caribbean
Sea®
Ibague
PANAMA
VENEZUELA
ANDE
Pacific
Ocean
Bogota
por damage and
COLOMBIA
deaths occurred along
r vers where rushing water
and mud carried buildings
ECUADOR
rand pedplejaway)
BY LARRY FOGEL-THE WASHINGTON POST
PERU
BRAZIL
Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R001500610001-8
1
y
LEO CPYRIGHT
·
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mud surrounds and partially buries Armero, as seen from a nearby hill. The town center is inundated at lower right.
that builds up inside volcanoes, he
said. "Hawaiian volcanoes are al-
ways blowing off pressure, which
might be one reason they don't
erupt catastrophically."
Another reason lies with volca-
. noes themselves, among the most
unpredictable phenomena of nature.
.Said Dr. Meyer Rubin of the USGS:
"Volcanoes can go 1,000 years
without an eruption. There's no
way to predict their behavior."
JUl Salu. IllIS Thedis ney itiall
their gases, allowing pressure to
build, rather than venting them in a
ApprovedFor Release 2000/08/08 - CIA-RDP96-00789R00100gevthe Pressure
ed
on
IUL BOUL JNUU VHUUJ IHH YOULH IHICLE
ican history. The USGS Dr. Darrel
G. Herd described it as a "wall of

Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R001500610001-8
VENEZUELA
Pacific
Ocean
Bogota
O
COLOMBIA
: teams octotred alone
`nivers where rushing Water
adhd mud tarred buildings
ECUADOR
fand people away"
BY LARRY FOGEL -- THE WASHINGTON POST
PERU
BRAZIL
Some wept. Others, dressed only in the".
underwear or bedclothes they had on when
the disaster struck, shivered in shock in
the warm air here.
CPYRGHT .
CPYRGHT. -.
Ruined Town's Survivors
Describe Night of Horror
ARMERO, From A1
'her and her family as they climbed
to the second story to pray for their
lives.
Sandra Patricia Perez, 13, her
face badly scratched and her head
wrapped in a white cloth, said she
nearly choked beneath the mud but'
somehow remained conscious as
she tumbled away from Armero in
the flood.
Hortensia Oliveros, 19 years old
and eight months pregnant, saw the
rushing water sweep their 11-
month-old child out of her hus-
band's arms. In the panic, she heard
branch, but that was the last she
heard of him. She ended up near a
road outside of Armero screaming
in Armero instructed him to take
cover in the stadium. There; he saw
. perhaps 3,000 people . pressing
against the entrance when the tor-
rent of hot mud came over them.
He, too, was immersed: in the
flood, he said, which scalded his
body. Holding to a tree branch, he
drifted six miles to the. town of
Guayaval, where at 5:30 this morn-
ing he was rescued. "I. was just
about to give up," he said. His wife,
eight months pregnant, . has not
been found.
In this town, about six. miles
north of Amero, flood waters
knocked out a bridge spanning the
Guali River and demolished 10 to
Some people decided to evacuate,
but hundreds of curious onlookers
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL/REUTER
ombian rescue workers assist a woman washed away from the town of Armero by the muddy flood waters.
.
n church-a 5- or 6-story build-
-was almost completely buried,
said.
cheverry made it to safety, he
lained, by building a bridge to
1 ground with bits of wood, pick-
his way past pieces of pots, tele-
on sets, homes and bodies. '
peaking calmly but bitterly, the
pital administrator criticized
ernment authorities for hesitat-
before declaring an emergency.
¡pite reports of volcanic activity
3 p.m. yesterday, he said, nation-
adio stations were still advising
after a natural dam of rocks and
stone above the town broke under
the force of onrushing waters.
The destructive mud flows had
been predicted
in a report
presented only yesterday by Colom-
bian geologists. The report was or-
dered several months ago after
Nevado del Ruiz started showing
early signs of reawakening. It was
the scene of an earthquake in 1845
that set off floods and killed about
quin Acosta.
1.000, Approved Of Release 2000/08/08 CIA REPS
The last time lava flowed was in
But less accurately-as last
night's events proved-the report
. also predicted that the flow of mud
would be slow and easily permit the
evacuation of surrounding popula-
tions. Citing Armero specifically,
the study-as summarized in to-
day's editions of the Colombian dai-
ly El Tiempo- said the town could
be cleared within two hours without
danger.
tral air traffic corridor and its ex-
plosion last night was witnessed by
'ibague
Sea
PANAMA
d surrounds and partially buries Armero, as seen from a nearby hill. The town center is inundated at lower right.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
her husband day 5008 18009 28 20 waterside homes, said residents.

Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R001500610001-8/
AV-none
6125
7 June 198
1434
0/26
1155
A.acom
sauce
B. land
0/26
1185
B. motional
movement
peutrefing
Recitation
Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R001500610001-8

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Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R001500610001-8
2
0126
1185
harde
0126
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5-2
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Monthly Date
Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R00150061000148

3
Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R001500610001-8
0126
81
AOL- BK
Packingy
5-2
billation
Black
park
5
Incluidopace
Mark
Ihr inside
Approved For Release/2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R001500610001-8
Edited out logic
1507