Magnitude 7.7 - ANTOFAGASTA, CHILE
A 7.7 magnitude earthquake occurred an hour ago. The USGS link is here.
I've gone to the South American Explorers homepage for the following from the August 7.9 magnitude earthquake that struck Lima, which may be predictive for the next few days for news and relief organization.
Updates and relief contacts in subsequent posts.
PERU EARTHQUAKE
- A 7.9 magnitude earthquake hit the coast of Peru at 18.41 on Wednesday 15th August. Epicentre was beneath the Pacific Ocean, about 90 miles south-east of Lima. Four strong aftershocks from 5.4 to 5.9 followed.
- More than 500 people killed and 1,500 injured. All but one of the deaths occurred in the coastal province of Ica, to the south of Lima. At least 60 people died in the regional capital, also called Ica, 165 miles south of Lima. One person was killed in Lima.
- The towns of Pisco and Chinca were badly hit, with the majority of buildings destroyed. Power failures occurred in these towns as well as several other towns along the south coast. In Lima there was also power failure and some buildings collapsed.
- Parts of the South Pan-American Highway were blocked by falling boulders and cracks at several points along the coast. No travel to Pisco is possible by road or air, the main road has split and part of it has dropped nearly 2 meters.
- Helicopters from Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia are assisting in the rescue attempts
- Telephone and mobile phone services were knocked out in Lima and across the south coast of Peru but have been restored.
- All flights from Jorge Chavez International Airport were temporarily suspended, but are now running as normal.
- The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning for the coasts of Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica and Panama. A tsunami watch was issued for the rest of Central America and Mexico and an advisory for Hawaii. The center canceled all the alerts after about two hours, but it said the quake had caused an estimated 10-inch tsunami near the epicenter.
