Earthquake in Peru

Peru was rocked by a powerful earthquake yesterday (estimated at a 7.9 magnitude) leaving hundreds dead and several hundred more injured. The epicenter is believed to have been 90 miles southeast of Lima in the Pacific,  primarily affecting those on the Southern Coast (particularly the town of Ica).

Andrea Tello, our editor in Peru, reports the following from the Sacred Valley:

We did feel it in the Sacred Valley!  It was really weird because I thought I was just feeling a bit dizzy, but everyone else at El Huacatay (I was there at the time) felt the same, too.  Fortunately, nothing else happened here, no material damage or casualties.

 

However, the situation is really bad in Ica and Lima (in less proportion).  The problem in Lima is that there are neighbourhoods with houses that have poor infrastructure, and for years and years people refused to leave them because they had nowhere else to go...unfortunately, these people are now homeless.

As you may imagine, the health care system is so bad here, that Pisco doesn't even have a morgue, so the scene there is absolutely devastating.  Classes have been suspended in the whole country today, though Lima's International Airport is operating normally now (it was closed yesterday afternoon).  Ica has been declared in emergency and lots of help is needed in the area.  There is no tsunami alert anymore, but La Punta (a district opposite Barranco, the end of the bay) was evacuated last night and people had to sleep in the stadium.  The other really bad thing is that all the communication systems collapsed as well, so people haven't been able to contact their families in the affected areas.

As for now, rescue effort continues in Ica, Chincha and Pisco, for there are still a lot of people trapped under constructions that collapsed during the earthquake.

Communication is spotty from Peru, but Andrea will keep us posted with updates.

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