August 15, 2007 Earthquake: Ica, Pisco, Lima, Peru

On August 15, 2007 at 23:40:56 UTC a magnitude 8.0 MW earthquake occurred 150 km SSE of Lima, Peru. At least 514 people killed, 1,090 injured and more than 39,700 buildings damaged or destroyed. The majority of the casualties and damage occurred in Chincha Alta, Ica and Pisco. Widespread communication and power outages occurred in the area. The Panamerican Highway, the Carretera Central and other main transport routes were heavily damaged due to landslides and cracks. Felt (VIII) at Chincha Alta; (VII) at Ica, Pisco and San Vicente de Canete; (VI) at Lima; (V) at Cusco. Possible earthquake lights observed at Lima.

This earthquake occurred at the boundary between the Nazca and South American tectonic plates. The two plates are converging at a rate of 78 mm per year. The earthquake occurred as thrust-faulting on the interface between the two plates, with the South American plate moving up and seaward over the Nazca plate. Coastal Peru has a history of very large earthquakes. The August 15 shock originated near the source of two earthquakes, both in the magnitude 8 range, that occurred in 1908 and 1974. The largest earthquake along the coast of Peru is the magnitude 9 that occurred in 1868. The 1868 earthquake produced a tsunami that killed several thousand people along the South American coast and also caused damage in Hawaii.

(above from ref #1053)

593 deaths, 1366 injured, USD 600 million in total damages (ref #1250)

910 deaths, 1090 injured, USD 2 billion in economic loss (ref #13727)

596 dead, 1,292 injured and 93,708 homes destroyed, 45,813 homes damaged (ref# 14026)

Homes destroyed 52,154. Homes damaged 23,632. (ref #12335)

National Association of Radio-Distress Signaling and Infocommunications, Havaria Emergency and Disaster Information Services, reference #3081

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/woalert_read.php?lang=eng&cid=12946

Situation Report

The deputy chief of Peru's fire department says the death toll is 510. More than 1,500 people were reported injured. The center of the destruction was in Peru's southern desert, in the city of Ica and the nearby port of Pisco. Pisco's mayor said at least 200 people were buried in the rubble of a church where they had been attending a service. In Ica, a city of 120,000 near the epicenter, a fourth of the buildings collapsed, at least 57 bodies were brought to the morgue. Several Ica churches also were damaged. Cable news station Canal N said 17 people were killed inside one. The quake knocked out telephone and mobile phone service between the capital and the disaster zone. Electricity also was cut, with power lines drooping dangerously into the streets.

In Chincha, a small town 20 miles north of Pisco, an AP Television News cameraman counted 30 bodies under bloody sheets on a patio of the badly damaged hospital. About 200 people were waiting to be treated in walkways and gardens, kept outside for fear that aftershocks could topple the cracked walls. Large areas were completely leveled; dozens of homes made with adobe bricks had collapsed. "The dead are scattered by the dozens on the streets," Pisco Mayor Juan Mendoza told Lima radio station CPN. "We don't have lights, water, communications. Most houses have fallen. Churches, stores, hotels - everything is destroyed," the mayor said, sobbing. In Lima, about 95 miles from the epicenter, only one death was recorded, and some homes collapsed. But the furious two minutes of shaking prompted thousands of people to flee into the streets and sleep in public parks for safety.