I honestly never heard of today’s tragic feature. On this date in 1970, a massive undersea earthquake ocurred in Peru. It is known as the Ancash or Great Peruvian earthquake. It was a Sunday afternoon when it struck, and it lasted 45 terrifying seconds. It caused the northern wall of Mt. Huascarán to be destabilized, thus resulting in an unbelievable landslide. By the time the speeding landslide made its way to the town of Yungay, Peru, it was 80 million cubic meters of mud, ice, and rock. Yungay was completely leveled, and 100,000 were dead. Of the 100,000, 25,000 were never found, hence the memorial you see above where most remains of the “missing” are still presumed to be. There were 200,000 more that were injured. Indeed, this is one of the worst disasters in recent history.
For more info:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970_Ancash_earthquake
http://gemecd.org/event/96
