Omayra Sánchez Garzón (1972–85) was a 13-year-old Colombian girl
killed in Armero, Colombia, by the 1985 eruption of Nevado del Ruiz.
Volcanic debris mixed with ice to form massive lahars (volcanically
induced mudslides, landslides, and debris flows) that rushed into the
river valleys below the mountain, killing nearly 25,000 people and
destroying Armero and 13 other villages. After a lahar demolished her
home, Omayra was trapped beneath the debris of her house for three days.
Her plight was documented as she descended from calmness into agony. Her
courage and dignity touched journalists and relief workers. After
60 hours of struggling, she died, likely due to exposure. Her death
highlighted the failure of officials to respond promptly to the threat
of the volcano and the efforts of volunteer rescue workers despite a
dearth of supplies and equipment. Omayra became internationally famous
through a photograph of her taken shortly before her death by the
photojournalist Frank Fournier, which was designated the World Press
Photo of the Year for 1985. She has remained a lasting figure in popular
culture, remembered through music, literature, and commemorative
articles.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omayra_S%C3%A1nchez>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1640:
Bishops' Wars: Scottish Covenanter forces led by Alexander
Leslie defeated the English army near Newburn, England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Newburn>
1850:
German composer Richard Wagner's romantic opera Lohengrin,
containing the Bridal Chorus, was first performed under the direction of
Franz Liszt in Weimar, present-day Germany.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohengrin_(opera)>
1937:
Toyota Motors, now Japan's largest automobile manufacturer, was
spun off from Toyota Industries as an independent company.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota>
1963:
During a large political rally in Washington, D.C., Martin
Luther King, Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech from the steps of
the Lincoln Memorial, describing his desire for a future where blacks
and whites would coexist harmoniously as equals.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Have_a_Dream>
1973:
Swedish police used gas bombs to end a seven-day hostage
situation in Stockholm; during the incident the hostages had bonded with
their captors, giving rise to the term "Stockholm syndrome".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
battle of the sexes:
(game theory) A situation in which two people want to do different
things, but do them together.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/battle_of_the_sexes>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
To be apt in quotation is a splendid and dangerous gift.
Splendid, because it ornaments a man's speech with other men's jewels;
dangerous, for the same reason.
--Robertson Davies
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robertson_Davies>