
“And Of Clay We Are Created”

Quickwrite
Should reporters remain
detached and objective when
reporting a tragedy? OR should
they express their personal
feelings and become involved
with helping victims? What is the
proper role of the news media?
And of Clay Are We Created


By Isabel Allende
Story Summary
In this story, Isabel Allende tells
about a 13-year-old victim of a
volcanic eruption. For three
days, the girl is buried up to her
neck in water and clay, while a
reporter works to get help for her




and to keep her spirits up. Her
situation forces the reporter to
confront buried memories in his
own life.
Background
When the seismograph began to record the violent earthshaking caused by yet another eruption of the Nevado del
Ruiz volcano in Colombia, no one thought that a few
hours later more than 23,000 people would be dead, killed
by lahars (volcanic debris flows) in towns and villages
several tens of kilometers away from the volcano. Before
the fatal eruption the volcano was being monitored by
scientists at a seismic station located 9 kilometers from
the summit, and information about the volcano's activity
was being sent to Colombian emergency-response
coordinators who were charged with alerting the public of
the danger from the active volcano. Furthermore, areas
known to be in the pathways of lahars had already been
identified on maps, and communities at risk had been told
of their precarious locations.
Unfortunately, a storm on November 13, 1985, obscured
the glacier-clad summit of Nevado del Ruiz. On that night
an explosive eruption tore through the summit and
spewed approximately 20 million cubic meters of hot ash
and rocks across the snow-covered glacier. These
materials were transported across the snow pack by
avalanches of hot volcanic debris (pyroclastic flows) and
fast-moving, hot, turbulent clouds of gas and ash (
pyroclastic surges). The hot pyroclastic flows and surges
caused rapid melting of the snow and ice, and created
large volumes of water that swept down canyons leading
away from the summit. As these floods of water
descended the volcano, they picked up loose debris and
soil from the canyon floors and walls, growing both in
volume and density, to form hot lahars. In the river valleys
farther down the volcano's flanks, the lahars were as
much as 40 meters thick and traveled at velocities as fast
as 50 kilometers per hour. Two and a half hours after the
start of the eruption one of the lahars reached Armero, 74
kilometers from the explosion crater. In a few short
minutes most of the town was swept away or buried in a
torrent of mud and boulders, and three quarters of the
townspeople perished.

•
•
•
•
Vocabulary
Embody: to give shape to or
visibly represent
Fortitude: strength of mind;
courage
Pandemonium: a wild uproar
or noise
Resignation: passive
acceptance of something;
submission
•
•
•
•
Stratagem: a clever trick or
device for obtaining an
advantage
Stupor: a state of mental
numbness, as from shock
Tenacity: the quality of holding
persistently to something; firm
determination
Tribulation: great distress or
suffering
 Nevado
del Ruiz
volcano erupts in
Colombia, South
America, in 1985



Death Toll: 23,000
Deadly Mudslides
Omayra Sanchez
Omayra was trapped up to her neck in water,
concrete, and other debris for three days before
she succumbed to gangrene and hypothermia.
During three nights of agony, Omayra seemed
strong but was suffering. She sang and had
normal conversations with the people who were
trying to help her. The little girl was thirsty and
scared. On the third night, Omayra began
hallucinating, saying that she did not want to be
late for school. At some point she asked the
people to leave her so they could rest. Television
coverage of the disaster introduced her to the
world when she was still alive. The photo was
taken hours before her death.