Fifty years later another quake hits San Jose de Ocoa

SAN JOSE DE OCOA. At 5:35 yesterday morning, an earthquake of 5.3 on the Richter Scale woke up the major part of the Dominican population. In different places, with greater or lesser intensity, the quake cause more than one shock, but in no place else like in San Jose de Ocoa. There they talk about "a prophecy," "general panic," and the "last day of my life."

"I can't lie about this, there was general panic," said Cruz Manuel Matos, a city council member and regional education director.

The word ‘prophecy' came from the lips of Orlando Pimentel, a citizen of San Jose de Ocoa, who recalled that in January 1962 a similar earthquake shook Ocoa. "This was a prophecy, because last week Osiris de Leon was talking of just this very thing," said Pimentel.

Mery Giovanni Brea, who works in the San Jose parish house, and lives in the Pueblo Nuevo barrio, narrated the seconds of the quake as "moments of anguish. I took my children and went out into the street," said Brea.

Soraya Pimentel, the mother of two, lives in the building of the Las Vegas Hotel, which is now a pension house. She said that the lamp in her room, among other belongings, fell to the floor. "I was scared for my life. I thought it was the last day. I ran with my daughter and sent out into the street dressed however," said Pimentel.

During the day the city's people felt the aftershocks, some 15 according to the Seismographic Institute, which kept reminding them of the morning's quake. Even when they were scared, the Ocoeños had returned to their jobs by noon yesterday. Nonetheless, the mayor of San Jose de Ocoa, Aneury Ortiz, warned that the city employees and those of other institutions were afraid to go into their respective buildings. In the case of the municipal palace, there were numerous small cracks.

Reported damage

The Ministry of Public Health reported that the Regional Hospitals 19 of March, in Azua, the one in Engombe, in the province of Santo Domingo, and the municipal hospital of San Jose de Ocoa had all reported damage in the form of cracks.

The same thing was reported by the provincial Civil Defense Committee of San Jose de Ocoa. They said that the El Balcon and Las Vegas hotels, the Baco Restaurant, the Jose Nuñez de Caceres High School, the Luisa Ozema Pellerano School all suffered some damage. The high school suffered cracks on the balconies and lateral walls, while a wall of an annex separated itself from the original structure at the grammar school.

Also there was damage to the offices of School District 03-03, and in the Assembly of God evangelical church, as well as in the San Jose de Ocoa Development Board, and the Banco Cooperative la Sureña. The San Jose parish church was also affected, with cracks on the wall under the staircase that leads to the second floor of the structure and in the beams over the main door.

The chief of the Ocoa Fire Department, Colonel Danerys Castillo, indicated that a preliminary survey showed "that the damage to the hotels was important."

There were small landslides reported that affected the El Numero Highway in Azua and the highway that connects San Jose de Ocoa with Bani. These slides were cleaned up early and the highways were open in the morning.

Public Works sends experts

The Ministry of Public Works sent yesterday a commission to study the damages that the quake caused in the southern part of the country. According to Public Works the infrastructure projects showed an optimum performance during the earthquake. A commission headed by engineer Natia Muñoz, the person in charge of Supervision at the Ministry of Public Works, and Henrique Ferreras Jodao, the Manager of Production for the Duarte Corridor toured San Jose de Ocoa and they were able to survey the seriousness of the damages in the South. The definitive report will be delivered today.