B. Colombia is bordered by Venezuela to the east, Brazil to the southeast, Peru and Ecuador to the south and southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west, Panama to the northwest, and the Caribbean Sea to the north. Earthquakes of magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5 hit Venezuela within 30 seconds of each other, leaving more than 6,300 people dead, 73,300 hospitalized, and thousands more still missing.

Q: Emergency crews and civilians desperately searched for survivors trapped under collapsed buildings in Cali, where just days earlier Colombia’s new president had been sworn into office instead of in the nation’s capital. What is the capital and largest city of Colombia?

A. Bogota

B. Caracas

C. Lima

D. Quito

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A. The epicenter of the earthquake was about 250 miles west of Bogota, a city of 7.3 million people that is the nation’s capital. Cali is Colombia’s third-largest city with 2.1 million people. President Abelardo de la Espriella chose Cali as the site of his inauguration to signal his hard-line approach to illegal armed groups operating in the region.

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Q: The earthquake severely damaged Cali and other Colombian cities and towns on the western slope and of which mountain range that extends 5,500 miles along the western edge of South America?

A. Alps

B. Andes

C. Appalachian

D. Atlas

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B. The Andes Mountains are the longest continental mountain range in the world, extending from Venezuela and Colombia in the north, and south through Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina.

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Q: Five days after Colombia’s earthquake, a magnitude 7.7 quake struck Indonesia on the opposite side of the ocean. Indonesia and Colombia are on the Ring of Fire, a tectonic belt of earthquakes and volcanoes that encompasses most of the Pacific Ocean. What share of the world’s earthquakes occur along the Pacific Ring of Fire?

A. 30%

B. 50%

C. 70%

D. 90%

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D. About 90% of the world’s earthquakes, including most of the largest, occur along the 25,000-mile-long, 300-mile-wide Ring of Fire that runs along the Pacific coasts of South America, North America, and Asia, along with islands of Southeast Asia and New Zealand. About two-thirds of the world’s volcanoes are located on the ring.

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