This earthquake had a magnitude of 6.2. There was quite a lot of damage caused.The earthquake caused tower blocks, hotels and historic churches in Armenia to topple. However, most of these collapsed buildings were old and poorly constructed or were built on poor soil such as old landfill sites or steep slopes. Most of the buildings which remained intact were the newer structures. The worst hit part of the country were regional capitals of Armenia and Pereira. In Armenia, single-story homes were demolished. Besides all that, many hospital structures have also been damaged. The Colombian coffee industry, which is the main economic activity of the region was heavily affected. Many coffee farms had been completely or partially destroyed. The banks and financial entities cannot dispense money for several weeks. Lastly, there were about 1000 casulties that were produced by the earthquake.

Wikipedia,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Armenia,_Colombia_earthquake, extracted 24-02-2010

The Armenia, Colombia earthquake happened on 25 January 1999 in Armenia, Colombia. This area has a high seismic risk because of the triple junction that is at the corner of the South American Plate where the Nazca, Cocos and Pacific plates converge . The Nazca and Caribbean plates, which are along the western border of Colombia, collide against and plunge beneath the South American Plate, generating most of the Colombia’s seismic activity. Colombia, located on the northwestern corner of the South American Plate, experiences earthquakes because of the subduction zone and the shallow crustal fault.

Websites
Risk Mangement Solutions,Inc.,https://www.rms.com/Publications/Colombia_Earthquake.pdf, extracted 22-02-2010

Wikipedia,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Armenia,_Colombia_earthquake, extracted 22-02-2010