Massive earthquake at intermediate depth in Peru – 1 collapsed home, multiple buildings damaged.
Last update: August 25, 2014 at 4:29 am by By Armand Vervaeck
This article is also written by Carlos Robles and James Daniell.
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Update 09:58 UTC: INDECI has updated damage and injury reports: Ica Region:
-Two non-life threatening injuries. Ayacucho Region Lucanas Province:
-One collapsed home in Amoca.
-10 damaged homes in Sanco.
– 3 damaged schools (2 in Sancos and 1 in Chaviña).
– 1 damaged clinic in Sancos.
– 1 damaged temple in Chaviña.
Paranicochas Province: – 4 damaged homes in Coracora.
-Two small landslides have been reported so far, one in the route Los Libertadores – Huancavelica and one in Panamericana Sur – Arequipa.
Update 03:57 UTC: INDECI has released initial values from the earthquake, with the Seismological Service of Peru having given a Ml6.6 earthquake at 106km depth. 1 house was destroyed in Amoca, Lucanas. 4 houses were damaged in Cora Cora. 1 temple and 1 school were also slightly damaged in Chavina.
Update 00:18 UTC: Very great news, USGS has just decreased the magnitude to 6.9 and changed the depth from 59km to 100km, a shallower quake has a lot more potential to create damage.
Update 00:01 UTC: Radio RPP is reporting damaged homes in Coracora.
Update 23:57 UTC: The quake was widely felt in a very big area and in a lot of big cities including Lima, the capital of Peru, this big cities should only have felt a slight shaking for a prolonged time and should only have minimal damage. Villages closer to the epicenter should have taken all the impact, but news from those areas will take time to travel.
Update 23:48 UTC : Very dangerous earthquake in a sparsely populated area of Peru
42km (26mi) ENE of Tambo, Peru
61km (38mi) E of Puquio, Peru
108km (67mi) S of Andahuaylas, Peru
131km (81mi) SW of Abancay, Peru
471km (293mi) SE of Lima, Peru
Most important Earthquake Data:
Magnitude : 6.8
Local Time (conversion only below land) : 2014-08-24 18:21:41
Very Strong earthquake near the coast of Ica, Peru
Last update: March 15, 2014 at 9:44 am by By Armand Vervaeck
Update 09.40 UTC:
The earthquake values were changed to M 6.2 in a depth of 25 km, according to IGP. Intensity V is expected in Ica and Pisco. This is still able to cause damage to weak constructions.
A very strong quake, Magnitude 6.0, hit south-central Peru. The epicenter is located near the coast of Ica, 250 km south of Lima. NO Tsunami was generated. We expect some damage in Ica caused by this earthquake.
Nearby Cities
21km (13mi) SSE of Paracas, Peru
39km (24mi) S of Pisco, Peru
40km (25mi) SSW of Villa Tupac Amaru, Peru
43km (27mi) S of San Clemente, Peru
239km (149mi) SSE of Lima, Peru
Most important Earthquake Data:
Magnitude : 6.2
Local Time (conversion only below land) : 2014-03-15 03:59:21
Very Strong earthquake out of the Piura coast in Northern Peru
Last update: August 12, 2013 at 10:36 am by By Ashish Khanal
Update 10:34 UTC : IGP Peru reports the following intensities, in line with other agencies :
MMI IV (light shaking) at Paita
MMI III-II (weak to very weak shaking) at Talara and Sullana
Update 10:25 UTC : based on the current (preliminary) data, earthquake-report.com expects this earthquake to be harmless but small damage like cracks in walls, fallen tiles etc are always possible.
The earthquake who occurred far enough out of the coast to be harmless for the coastal area has been reported with a (theoretical) max. light shaking on the coast. The very shallow hypocenter is normal as it is the beginning of the subduction plate (Nazca plate who subducts the South American plate)
94km (58mi) WSW of Paita, Peru
102km (63mi) WSW of Salinera Colan, Peru
115km (71mi) SW of Talara, Peru
121km (75mi) W of Sechura, Peru
685km (426mi) SSW of Quito, Ecuador
Sabancaya volcano area earthquake, Southern Peru – at least 3 injured and 20 collapsed houses
Last update: July 17, 2013 at 10:26 am by By Ashish Khanal
Update 04:09 UTC : USGS has even increased the Magnitude from 5.9 to 6 now. USGS is further expecting a MMI VII or very strong shaking directly near the volcano. Such a shaking will be very damaging and serious injuries and even fatalities cannot be excluded.
Update 04:03 UTC : A strange situation as IGP Peru is not confirming the M6.0 (all 3 international agencies are reporting M5.9 !), but is reporting a Ml5.1 at a depth of 15 km. This means NO direct eruption related earthquake (15 km is too deep) but one of the similar earthquakes on the volcano so far.
A big eruption of the volcano would have certainly be heard in Arequipa, a big Peruvian city. The earthquake was however well felt in Arequipa.
Update 03:51 UTC : The earthquake was not even felt in Arequipa as we expected but we ara still worried about the people close to the volcano. We will certainly get more information when daylight arrives.
Local press thinks to now that the earlier, weaker, earthquakes today were not related to the volcano, but confirm that the M 5.9 was one very close to the volcano. The 5 earlier today were close to Arequipa.
Update 03:48 UTC : Even without the volcano erupting, this earthquake will be damaging for the surrounding villages where weaker earthquakes did inflict damage earlier this year.
Another, this time very strong, earthquake near the Sabancayavolcano in Southern Peru.
12km (7mi) W of Chivay, Peru
84km (52mi) NNW of Arequipa, Peru
148km (92mi) SW of Ayaviri, Peru
150km (93mi) NE of Camana, Peru
393km (244mi) WNW of La Paz, Bolivia
Most important Earthquake Data:
Magnitude : 6
Local Time (conversion only below land) : 2013-07-16 21:37:45
GMT/UTC Time : 2013-07-17 02:37:45
Update 10:23 UTC : Landslides are blocking various road in the area. People in Cabanaconde are using the Plaza de Armas as a safe retreat. We expect more news the following hours as we are getting in the morning hours in Peru (daylight)
Update 06:52 UTC : The Civil Defense services of the Caylloma province report that 20 houses collapsed, five in Huambo and 15 in Canabaconde. This news is coming out in the middle of the Peruvian night. Only at daylight the full damage impact will be visible. We expect the damage to further increase the coming hours. Number of injured had increased from 2 to 3.
Update 05:45 UTC : El Commercio Peru reports at last 2 elderly people injured in Cabanaconde (Caylloma province). Currently we know about 15 destroyed houses and a number of collapsed walls.
The report also states that people at Cabanaconde left their houses for a nearby local school.
We fear that the damage reports will increase further later today.
Ingemmet (Geológico Minero Metalúrgico) indicates that the increased activity in the area may be related to the Sabancaya volcano.
Update 04:45 UTC : Our Volcano specialist Rodger Wilson wrote this yesterday evening UTC : Larger magnitude earthquakes are now occurring within the current earthquake swarm at Sabancaya volcano (Peru) (station SAB). He was definitely right ! This was the seismogram from yesterday.
Update 04:32 UTC : We consider it very good news that somebody from Chivay was able to go on the internet and tell the world that the shaking was really bad. Able to use the internet is at least that he is OK and that telecommunications are still working.
Update 04:15 UTC : We have so far NO direct news from Chivay, Peru a tourist village very close to the volcano. As the hypocenter was very shallow (USGS reports 6.6 km) the main problems might be coming from an area as narrow as 25 km around the volcano.
Based an the recent seismogram from Sabancaya, we think it did NOT erupt. NO continuous tremor can e seen on the seismogram, only the series of earthquakes.
The Nazca (also spelled Nasca) Lines are geoglyphs located in an arid coastal area of Peru that cover an estimated 170 square miles (450 square kilometers).
Scratched on the ground, they number in the thousands and depict creatures from both the natural world and the human imagination. They include animals such as the spider, hummingbird, monkey, lizard, pelican and even a killer whale. Also depicted are plants, trees, flowers and oddly shaped fantastic figures. Also illustrated are geometric motifs such as wavy lines, triangles, spirals and rectangles.
The animal mounds were found in a region famous for a series of ancient geolyphs, called the Nazca Lines, which are now considered a World Heritage Site in the Nazca Desert in southern Peru. Here, Nazca Lines resembling a humming bird, as viewed from a plane.
CREDIT: tr3gin | Shutterstock
How old are they?
The vast majority of the lines date from 200 BC to 500 AD, to a time when a people referred to as the Nazca inhabited the region. The earliest lines, created with piled up stones, date as far back as 500 BC.
Who made them?
The Nazca people were an ancient prehistoric culture that was successful in using engineering techniques to bring underground water to the surface for irrigation. Some of the theories regarding the purpose of the lines connect them to this need for water.
One of their largest settlements is Cahuachi, a place of ceremony that overlooks some of the lines. It contains more than 40 mounds, including pyramids made of adobe.
When were they “discovered”?
Peruvian archaeologist Toribio Mejia Xesspe was the first to study and report the Nazca Lines in detail after coming across them, on foot, in 1927. In the 1930s as air traffic in the area increased, the lines became better known, eventually attracting a steady stream of tourists.
It’s often stated that the lines can only be seen from the air; however, this is a myth. A 2007 study that looked at 1,500 drawings in the Palpa region found that “each and every geoglyph” can be spotted from the ground.
Theories and significance
The purpose of the lines continues to elude researchers and remains a matter of conjecture. Ancient Nazca culture was prehistoric, which means they left no written records.
One idea is that they are linked to the heavens with some of the lines representing constellations in the night sky. Another idea is that the lines play a role in pilgrimage, with one walking across them to reach a sacred place such as Cahuachi and its adobe pyramids. Yet another idea is that the lines are connected with water, something vital to life yet hard to get in the desert, and may have played a part in water-based rituals.
In the absence of a firm archaeological conclusion a number of fringe theories have popped up, such as the idea that the Nazca people used balloons to observe the lines from up high, something which there is no archaeological evidence for.
Last update: August 2, 2012 at 6:29 pm by By Ashish Khanal
GEOFON
Peru-brazil Border Region
Aug 02 09:38 AM
6.0
Deep very strong earthquake strikes the Peru – Brazil border area
We consider this earthquake to be harmless based on the (normal) deep hypocenter of 130 to 140 km.
These data are preliminary and have to be confirmed after manual recalculation.
32 km (20 miles) E (89°) from Pucallpa, Peru. In the case of deep earthquakes is the distance from the epicenter to the city less important than in the case of shallow earthquakes. The shaking will of course be stronger close to the epicenter but if you add the depth to this distance, you will immediately understand that even at a Magnitude of 6 the shaking will be max. MMI IV or light shaking. This light shaking will have been felt by 469000 people. 2.7 million people (also in the neighboring countries) will have felt a weak to very weak shaking.
LIMA, April 22 (UPI) — Scientists say they are investigating the mysterious deaths of 877 dolphins washed ashore in Peru this year, many in advanced states of decomposition.
Peruvian Deputy Environmental Minister Gabriel Quijandria said an outbreak of Morbillivirus or Brucella bacteria could have been the cause. However, results of a histopathological analysis — which would determine whether contamination was the culprit — are expected in the coming days. Starvation, poisoning or interactions with fisheries have been ruled out as causes of death.
More than 80 percent of the dolphins washed ashore were in advanced states of decomposition, making it more difficult to determine the causes of death.
CNN reports the deaths are part of a worldwide trend. The International Fund for Animal Welfare said in February alone, 108 dead dolphins washed ashore in Cape Cod. Amateur video showed more than 30 dolphins washing ashore in Rio de Janeiro in March, which were later safely returned to the sea.
The centre of Ica – damage is expected to be found as day breaks. (Wiki Commons, Oliver Etchebarne)
Shaking map : max : MMI VI – courtesy USGS
Most important Earthquake Data:
Magnitude : 6.3
UTC Time : Monday, January 30, 2012 at 05:11:00 UTC
Local time at epicenter : Monday, January 30, 2012 at 12:11:00 AM at epicenter
Depth (Hypocenter) : 39 km
Geo-location(s) :
23 km (14 miles) SE (134°) from Ica, Peru 97 km (60 miles) SSE (147°) from Chincha Alta, Peru
Update 14:40UTC: Indeci still maintains the figures of 98 injured, 3 people homeless, 10 people in affected houses, 1 destroyed house and 2 damaged, however other reports give much higher damaged buildings estimates.
An intensity of V was seen in Ica, meaning lower damage to be expected. The hypocenter was updated to Ml6.3, but the depth was 54km. (The epicenter was 47km SW of Ica).
Update 13:40UTC: The reports from earlier have been confirmed that the cathedral in Ica had several blocks of the roof which fell down, luckily not killing anyone.
Update 12:40UTC: Around 100 people have been injured, however most are not seriously injured with only 12 of these severely injured.
Update 12:00UTC: The statistics remain the same as at 11.00 UTC – 96 people injured, at least 10 houses destroyed, power and water outages.
Update 11:00UTC: There have been 96 people injured as a result, according to the preliminary damage information provided by Civil Defence authorities. Many houses have been damaged as a result of the earthquake and a number of homeless are expected. At least 10 houses have been deemed uninhabitable.
Some sections of Ica are still without power and water. The wall of the third floor of a house located at the same intersection of the Piura and Chincha avenues near Ica collapsed and crashed into the center of the house after the earthquake in the morning. It did not have any cross bracing.
For persons injured by the earthquake in Ica, the General Office of National Defense, Ministry of Health informed the Emergency Operations Center National INDECI that they have been evacuated to hospitals and health centers for immediate care.
Staff of the National Police of Peru are currently in all the provinces of the Ica region, while the Civil Defense Office of the provincial and district municipalities are conducting an assessment and monitoring test in coordination with the Regional Directorate of INDECI in Ica.
For its part, Ica regional authorities made an assessment visit in the districts of Ocucaje and Santiago in order to determine damage assessment and needs analysis.
INDECI boss, General Alfredo Espinoza Murgueytio, has travelled in the last hours to the city of Ica, to coordinate with the Regional Government authorities and assess the damage caused by the earthquake.
It should be noted that the quake was also felt in the regions of Lima, Ayacucho, Huancavelica, Junin and Arequipa.
Update 10:00UTC: In addition, many sectors of the city of Ica are still without electric service and several homes were badly damaged. Even a few structures that withstood the 2007 earthquake, now collapsed such as the cornice of St. Joseph Church and the old houses near Ica. We at earthquake-report.com believe that there will be significant losses discovered as day breaks. The number of injured is 70 and no deaths have been reported as yet. Power outages however are making information distribution difficult at the moment.
Pumapunku, also called “Puma Pumku” or “Puma Puncu”, is part of a large temple complex or monument group that is part of the TiwanakuSite near Tiwanaku, Bolivia. In Aymara, its name means, “The Door of the Cougar”. The processes and technologies involved in the creation of these temples are still not fully understood by modern scholars. Our current ideas of the Tiwanaku culture hold that they had no writing system and also that the invention of the wheel was most likely unknown to them. The architectural achievements seen at Pumapunku are striking in light of the presumed level of technological capability available during its construction. Due to the monumental proportions of the stones, the method by which they were transported to Pumapunku has been a topic of interest since the temple’s discovery.
Puma Punku, truly startles the imagination. It seems to be the remains of a great wharf (for Lake Titicaca long ago lapped upon the shores of Tiahuanaco) and a massive, four-part, now collapsed building. One of the construction blocks from which the pier was fashioned weighs an estimated 440 tons (equal to nearly 600 full-size cars) and several other blocks laying about are between 100 and 150 tons.
Puma Punku ruins, Tiahuanaco, Bolivia
(courtesy of www.sacredsites.com and Martin Gray)
The quarry for these giant blocks was on the western shore of Titicaca, some ten miles away. There is no known technology in all the ancient world that could have transported stones of such massive weight and size. The Andean people of 500 AD, with their simple reed boats, could certainly not have moved them. Even today, with all the modern advances in engineering and mathematics, we could not fashion such a structure.
Just out of the aerial picture (below) to the bottom left is the site of the Puma Punku. This is another ‘temple area’ with many finely cut stones some weighing over 100 tonnes. Its position to the south of the Akapana may have been important because it gave a good view to a sacred mountain far to the east.
Of course there is no certainty that this was the reason as the ancient builders left no written records.
All the legends have been handed down through the generations.
Puma Punku ruins, Tiahuanaco, Bolivia
(courtesy of www.sacredsites.com and Martin Gray)
How were these monstrous stones moved and what was their purpose?
Posnansky suggested an answer, based upon his studies of the astronomical alignments of Tiahuanaco, but that answer is considered so controversial, even impossible, that it has been ignored and censured by the scientific community for fifty years.
Carved stone block at Puma Punku. This precision-made 6 mm wide
groove contains equidistant, drilled holes. It seems impossible that this
cuts were made with use of stone or copper tools.
The so-called Gate of the Sun seen at the back side.
Made of one piece of hard rock. Possibly it was a part of a large wall.
By the courtesy of www.inkatour.com, nr. 3696
Puma Punku doesn’t look impressive: a hill as remains of an old pyramid and a large number of megalithic block of stone on the ground, evidently smashed by a devastating earthquake. However, closer inspection shows that these stone blocks have been fabricated with a very advanced technology. Even more surprising is the technical design of these blocks shown in the drawing below. All blocks fit together like interlocking building blocks.
Source: Jean-Pierre Protzen & Stella E.Nair, “On Reconstructing Tiwanaku Architecture”, Jpurnal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 59, Nr.3, 2000, pp. 358-371
A wall of the Akapana, the pyramid of Tiahuanacu, shows similar modular design.
Blocks that are piled one on top of the other but the underside of the upper stone is cut at an angle. The top of the standing stone is cut at the same angle, as shown on the figure below.
Source: Jean-Pierre Protzen & Stella E.Nair, “On Reconstructing Tiwanaku Architecture”, Jpurnal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 59, Nr.3, 2000, pp. 358-371
This stone technology plainly contradicts what official archaeology suggests about the general state of development of the ancient peoples of South-America.
Source:
“Die Ruinenstätte von Tiahuanaco im Hochlande des alten Peru”
(The Ruins of Tiahuanaco in the Highlands of Ancient Peru)
1892 book about Tiahanaco written by two German
discoverers and engineers Alphons Stübel and Max Uhle
The architectural achievements seen at Pumapunku are striking in light of the presumed level of technological capability available during its construction. Due to the monumental proportions of the stones, the method by which they were transported to Pumapunku has been a topic of interest since the temple’s discovery. The largest of these stone blocks is 7.81 meters long, 5.17 meters wide, averages 1.07 meters thick, and is estimated to weigh about 131 metric tons. The second largest stone block found within the Pumapunka is 7.90 meters long, 2.50 meters wide, and averages 1.86 meters thick. Its weight has been estimated to be 85.21 metric tons. Both of these stone blocks are part of the Plataforma Lítica and composed of red sandstone. Based upon detailed petrographic and chemical analyses of samples from both individual stones and known quarry sites, archaeologists concluded that these and other red sandstone blocks were transported up a steep incline from a quarry near Lake Titicaca roughly 10 km away. Smaller andesite blocks that were used for stone facing and carvings came from quarries within the Copacabana Peninsula about 90 km away from and across Lake Titicaca from the Pumapunka and the rest of the Tiwanaku Site.
to read more, go to: http://www.world-mysteries.com/mpl_PumaPunku.htm
Scientists aren’t clear on the origin story for this ancient Peruvian skull (Photo courtesy of RPP)
Peruvian anthropologist Renato Davila Riquelme has discovered the remains of an unidentified creature with a “triangle shaped” skull nearly as large as its 20-inch-tall body.
Has the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull –the setting for the underwhelming 2008 Indiana Jones vehicle–finally been discovered? Well, don’t be expecting a victory lap from Steven Spielberg or George Lucas anytime soon.
The remains are most likely those of a child, though one with an unusually shaped head and frame. But that hasn’t stopped local site RPP from interviewing several anonymous Spanish and Russian “scientists” claiming that the remains are actually those of an alien:
It has a non-human appearance because the head is triangular and big, almost the same size as the body. At first we believed it to be a child’s body until Spanish and Russian doctors came and confirmed that, yes, it’s an extraterrestrial being.
Of course, five anonymous scientific authorities citing proof of extraterrestrial life would probably be generating a little more attention if their research had passed some basic scrutiny. Even if the remains are almost certainly those of a person, they are certainly unusual. You can take a look at the gallery of photos here.
Scientists aren’t clear on the origin story for this ancient Peruvian skull (Photo courtesy of RPP)