History-Geography Integrated Assignment

News Blog On Natural Disasters

Peru, South America has 23 earthquake dating all the way back to 14 February 1619. It is common for earthquakes to happen in Peru as it is in a seismic zone. The 2001 Southern Peru Earthquake was the worst earthquake since the catastrophic 1970 Ancash earthquake. It is also the largest earthquake globally since the 1965 Rat Island earthquake. The earthquake happened on Saturday, 23 June 2001, 20:33:14 UTC (15:33:14 local time).Its magnitude was 8.4. The quake affected the Peruvian regions of Arequipa, Moquegua and Tacna. The earthquake happened at the boundary between the Nazca and South American plates. These two plates are moving towards each other at a rate of roughly 78mm per year.


In the earthquake, at least 75 people were killed, not excluding the 26 killed in a tsunami. A devastating number of 2,687 were injured, 17,510 homes were destroyed and 35,549 homes damaged in the Arequipa-Camano-Tacna area. 64 people were missing due to the tsunami in the Camana-Chala area. Landslides had severely blocked highways in the epicentral area.


Ayacucho:
people affected-84'111
people missing-64
people injured-1'993
people killed-35
houses affected-14'299
houses destroyed-9'084


Tacna:
people affected-57'467
people missing-0
people injured-277
people killed-22
houses affected-4'062
houses destroyed-10'004


Moquegua:
people affected-74'109
people missing-0
people injured-363
people killed-14
houses affected-16'090
houses destroyed-5'396


Arequipa:
people affected-2'198
people missing-0
people injured-56
people killed-3
houses affected-1'270
houses destroyed-371


Total:
people affected-217'885
people missing-64
people injured-2'689
people killed-74
houses affected-35'721
houses destroyed-24'855




Bibliography:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_southern_Peru_earthquake


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquakes_in_Peru


http://www2.ess.ucla.edu/~giovanni/peru.html