Week 8: Mass Wasting
In Peru the occurrence of mass movement is very common in the Andes mountain area of the country. Landslides are a recurrence and have been affecting Peru since many years back. Today I wanted to present to you about three different landslides that hit the country of Peru in the past and earlier this year in 2021.
Due to Peru’s steep mountain range and frequent earthquakes, mass wasting disasters have emanated from Nevados Huascaran (known as a tall mountain peak). In 1962, an avalanche from this peak fell at an average of 105 miles per hour and had a volume of 16,900,000 cubic yards. The debris from the avalanche buried the village of Ran-rahirca and killed 5,000 citizens. Eight years later, history repeated itself because a 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit Nevados Huascaran and the avalanche fell at 174 miles per hour. The debris ended up covering the town of Yungay and the death count was at 18,000. It seems that the Andes mountains are a common place for mass wasting and towns in this area in repeated danger.
Nowadays in Peru, due to better technology and the government realizing Peru’s climate/weather issues they called a state of emergency in 2018 when a dramatic landslide hit Llusco, Peru. Over 100 houses were destroyed and fractures were made into the grassy area. Instead of it creating a circle (most common) it fractured the ground into displaced line masses. A few houses were buried underneath the dirt as the ground swallowed them up.
This year on the 7th of April a large landslide hit the village of Culluchaca causing severe damage. Luckily there were no deaths due to the government calling an evacuation. The landslide disrupted the electricity network of the village, created cracks on the pavements, and filled many plantation farms with dirt.
Work Cited:
https://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2018/03/15/llusco-1/https://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2021/04/11/culluchaca-1/
Very good read!
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