October 17, 1966 Earthquake: Lima,huacho,huaura, Chancay,supe,san Nicolas, Peru

October 17, 1966, 21:41:56 UTC, 10.7 S, 78.8 W, depth 40 km, magnitude 8.1 MS. There was an earthquake in Peru, causing destruction in the coastal zone approximately between 10 deg and 13 deg S. One hundred and ten people died and 3000 were injured; damage amounted to 35 million dollars. The area of damage had a length of about 400 km and a width of less than 50 km. The port city of Huacho, the nearby villages of Huaura and San Nicolas (3 km south of Supe) and also the village of Puente Piedra, situated in a swamp (a filled in lake) in the vicinity of Lima, suffered especially. Here all homes were destroyed or damaged; the ground cracked.

The accelerograph at Lima registered a peak horizontal acceleration of 0.4 g in unusually high-frequency oscillations of 5-10 Hz. The destruction along the coast and at Lima was "spotty," being mainly confined to places with alluvial soils. Besides flimsy structures (adobe structures and those damaged by the preceding shocks), some brick and concrete structures including a two-story school not designed for short-period effects also suffered. Flexible structures withstood the shocks well.

The collapses of sand dunes near Pasamayo put the Panamerican superhighway out of service. A quartz deformograph at Nana registered a permanent shift in the earth's surface.

A strong seaquake was felt on the ships at sea. The earthquake was accompanied by a series of aftershocks, which arose rapidly one after another. A tsunami occurred.

(above from reference #415)

October 17, 1966, 21:41:56.3 UTC, 10.7 S, 78.7 W, depth 38 km, magnitude 7.5 MS. Near coast of Peru. This earthquake, centering just of the coast from Callao, claimed about 125 lives and injured some 3,000 persons. The town of Huacho was the mostly severely damaged with over 20,000 inhabitants left homeless. A religious festival was being held in Callao and several were killed when some of the churches collapsed. One street in this city was split by a chasm several feet wide. In Lima, 2,300 houses suffered severe structural damage. Landslides and huge ground cracks were reported along the Pan American Highway north of Ancon. This shock generated a tsunami with heights of 11.3 feet at La Punta-Callao. (reference #45)

October 17, 1966, Peru, magnitude 7.5 MS, 8.1 Mw. (reference #1314)

October 17, 1966, 21:41:56.6 UTC, 10.748 S, 78.638 W, depth 38 km, magnitude 8.3 MS, intensity IX, tsunami, casualties. (reference #1208)