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Guadalajara, JaliscoGuadalajara is a large city in the Western-Pacific region of Mexico, located at 20.67 N, 103.35 W. Guadalajara is the capital of the state of Jalisco. It is the second-largest and most populous city in Mexico, with an estimated population of 3,500,000 people in 2004. The Guadalajara metropolitan area also includes the municipalities of Zapopan, Tlaquepaque, Tonal, Tlajomulco, and Ixtlahuacan. The population of the metropolitan area was 3.7 million (2000 figure). Guadalajara is known as La Perla de Occidente (Spanish for "Pearl of the West"), la Perla Tapata ("tapato" is an informal adjective of origin for people and things from Guadalajara) and, Ciudad de las Rosas. The name of the city originates from the Arabic Wad-al-hidjara, meaning "River Running Between Rocks". The city refers to itself as the Silicon Valley of Mexico. Such Silicon Valley companies as General Electric, IBM, Hitachi, and Hewlett Packard have facilities in the city or its suburbs. The Universidad de Guadalajara, the state's public university, has its headquarters here. Guadalajara is home to three popular soccer teams: Chivas, Atlas and Tecos. Guadalajara is served by Don Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla International Airport. American Capital of Culture On 28 October 2004 it was announced that Guadalajara was to be the American Capital of Culture for 2005. Disaster Guadalajara is also famous for the great disaster of April 22, 1992. Numerous gas explosions in the sewer system during 4 hours destroyed kilometers of the streets. The first cause of the disaster was pipeline plated with zinc that was occluding in a humid environment with a steel gasoline pipeline. Both corroded, and gasoline was leaking through the holes, right into the main sewer. The second cause of the disaster was a U-shaped siphon in the sewer needed to duck under a recently built underground railway. As designed, the siphona allowed fluids to pass through, but blocked any fumes. There should have been a siphon for the fumes passing over the underground railway. Inhabitants were complaining for several days of a gasoline smell, but despite the measurments and the imminent threat of explosion, the authorities refused to evacuate. Officially 206 people were killed, nearly 500 injured and 15,000 were left homeless. Guadalajara is site of major seismological activity with a high-scale earthquake occurring about every 80 years. See also External links
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