João Câmara, 'Land of Abalos': biggest earthquake in RN turns 40 and changed the seismolog It was just over 3am when the noise started. Before residents could understand what was happening, walls shook, tiles fell and an entire city woke up in fright. In a few seconds, João Câmara, in the interior of Rio Grande do Norte, would experience the most dramatic dawn in its history, with consequences that went further: changing the trajectory of Brazilian seismology and causing the biggest exodus in the city's history. On that November 30, 1986, an earthquake of magnitude 5.1 hit the municipality in the Mato Grande region of Rio Grande do Norte. The earthquake was the largest ever recorded in the State and one of the largest in Brazil. Thousands of properties were devastated and around 10,000 people were left homeless. ? Click here to follow the g1 RN channel on WhatsApp Around 4 thousand homes were affected by the earthquakes LabSis/UFRN Archive Almost forty years later, the memory of that early morning remains alive in the memory of those who witnessed the episode. (read reports below) The earthquake and other earthquakes that the city and the region have recorded since then are explained by the 'Falha de Samambaia', the largest in the country and which cuts through neighboring municipalities. The severity of the tremor also made Brazilians realize that Brazil is not immune to stronger tremors. According to geophysicist and seismology specialist, Aderson Nascimento, the geographical location of João Câmara means that records are frequent. "It's a seismicity that still occurs." (understand more below) ??"João Câmara, Terra dos Abalos" is a series from g1 that remembers the 40th anniversary of the biggest earthquake ever recorded in Rio Grande do Norte and one of the biggest in Brazil. Two other reports will be published on the topic. 'A different tremor' The tremors had been recurring for months. The city had been experiencing earthquakes more frequently since June, but in the early hours of the 30th there was no time to think. Former ACDB, in João Câmara Josinoi Ferreira Archive On the occasion, hundreds of residents participated in a party at the Associação Clube dos Dirigentes Lojistas (ACDB), one of the main meeting points in the city. Among them were radio presenter Josinoi Ferreira, 60, and then councilor Osório Avelino, 73. Josinoi had just left the room when he felt the ground shake. "I was at the bar, I went to buy a soda. When I saw the earth shaking as if it were being destroyed by compressors, I left immediately, I was the first to jump the roulette wheel at ACDB." Also at the party, Osório immediately noticed that this tremor was different from the previous ones. "At the time of the shock, we were without light and without communication. Nobody had the courage to stay inside the house, because everything shook," he says. Josinoi Ferreira, 60 years old, radio host and resident of João Câmara Away from the show, the then lunch lady Francisca Vieira, 76 years old, had already put her two children to bed. She was already on alert with the frequent earthquakes. For many nights, she and her family left the city to sleep at a family farm, afraid that the house would not be able to withstand another shock. The scale of the tragedy led then-president José Sarney to visit João Câmara a few days after the earthquake. On the occasion, he announced support for the municipality's recovery and authorized the sending of technical teams, resources for housing reconstruction and specialists to monitor the sequence of tremors. President José Sarney and the Minister of the Interior Costa Couto were in João Câmara Archive Osório Avelino Soares Samambaia Fault When the tremor ended, no one knew exactly what had happened and why. Many left their homes with just the clothes on their backs. The city was left without electricity and communication. The first hours were marked by fear and uncertainty. There were reports of cracked buildings, walls on the ground and entire families gathered in squares and open fields, afraid to return indoors. Authorities were trying to understand the scale of the disaster, which in these proportions, in an urban area, was considered a novelty in Brazil. The population's fear quickly gave way to misinformation. There were those who believed that the city would sink or that there was a raging underground river beneath João Câmara. Religious predictions about the end of the world were also circulating. The truth is that the earthquake originated in the so-called Samambaia Fault, a geological fracture that cuts through the municipalities of João Câmara, Parazinho, Poço Branco and Bento Fernandes. ?? 'Falha de Fern' is a large fracture in the rocks below ground and considered the largest known active geological structure in Brazil. ? Over millions of years, the blocks of rock on both sides of this fissure slowly accumulate tensions caused by the Earth's natural movements. ?When this pressure exceeds the limit that the rock can withstand, a sudden displacement occurs, releasing a large amount of energy in the form of seismic waves. João Câmara is cut by the Samambaia Fault g1 Is there an earthquake in Brazil? "One of the fundamental aspects of the João Câmara episode was to raise awareness. Since then, people have realized that Brazil is not immune to earthquakes", points out Aderson Nascimento, coordinator of the Seismological Laboratory at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (LabSis/UFRN). The 5.1 earthquake was not an isolated episode. Since June of that year, João Câmara had already registered a sequence of tremors, which continued in the following months and even years. According to researchers who followed the seismic sequence, the problem was no longer just structural but became psychological. "Even small tremors, but shaking all the time, affected people. It's not just the physical damage. What really shook is that you had the tremor, then you had the aftershocks", he explained. The João Câmara tremor was one of the strongest in Brazil - the two largest were, both in 1955, in Espírito Santo and Mato Grosso. What changed about you