Ranrahirca

Ranrahirca was a village in Peru, alongside the river Santa, near Huascarán, the highest mountain in Peru. It was hit by massive avalanches of snow, rocks and mud, originating on the slopes of Huascarán and triggered by earthquakes on 10 January 1962 and on 31 May 1970. Over two thousand people from the village perished in the 1962 avalanche, along with the inhabitants of seven nearby settlements.[1] In total about 3,500 died in the disaster.[2] About 20,000 people died in the avalanches that resulted from the second earthquake (known as the 1970 Ancash earthquake).[3]400 survived from the second disaster.[4]

Photograph taken after the 1970 avalanche showing the buried towns of Yungay and Ranrahirca

See also

References
  1. National Geographic June 1962
  2. Lane, F. W. The Elements Rage (David & Charles 1966), pp. 88-9 & plates 40-41
  3. U.S. Dept. of the Interior (October 1970). "The Peru Earthquake: a Special Study". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 26 (8): 17–19.
  4. BBC on this day

Earthquake of 31 May 1970

9°10′S 77°43′W

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