Earthquakes have an insidious manner of spreading increased terror......aftershocks.
In the 48 hours after the 8.0 Richter scale earthquake devastated a south central area of Peru’s Pacific coastline there have been over 350 aftershocks. Of those, at least 18 were 5.0 or over on the Richter scale, including a 6.2 tremor on Friday night which lasted for at least 30 seconds.
In the devastated areas - beginning about 100 miles south of capital city Lima – the physical, structural and psychological damage is especially felt. Some buildings that remained standing but with heavy damage were toppled by the aftershocks.
Just the threat of the continuing seismic activity has caused residents in the cities of Ica (pop. 230,000), Pisco (pop. 120,000) and Chincha Alta (pop. 60,000) to sleep on the streets since Wednesday. Some are under makeshift roofs forged from inverted kitchen tables, others have taken refuge in their cars – one family of eight was stuffed into a compact Daewoo car in Chincha Alta outside their collapsed home.
The rescue effort has also been hampered by the aftershocks with a number of workers being injured by falling debris during the new ground movement. Landslides have also increased, especially alongside the Pan American highway.
But 100 miles up that same Pan American Highway in Lima the aftershocks are not nearly affecting the people as much. During some of the strong tremors in the last few days it has been surprising to see the Limeños simply go about their work as if nothing was happening.
This included construction workers on a 15th floor scaffolding in the heart of Lima who just went about their work while the ground shook steadily for about 25 seconds! For those of us down below who had fled the seeming safety of a hotel lobby across the street, the courage(?) of these workers was extraordinary to watch.ENDIT
In the 48 hours after the 8.0 Richter scale earthquake devastated a south central area of Peru’s Pacific coastline there have been over 350 aftershocks. Of those, at least 18 were 5.0 or over on the Richter scale, including a 6.2 tremor on Friday night which lasted for at least 30 seconds.
In the devastated areas - beginning about 100 miles south of capital city Lima – the physical, structural and psychological damage is especially felt. Some buildings that remained standing but with heavy damage were toppled by the aftershocks.
Just the threat of the continuing seismic activity has caused residents in the cities of Ica (pop. 230,000), Pisco (pop. 120,000) and Chincha Alta (pop. 60,000) to sleep on the streets since Wednesday. Some are under makeshift roofs forged from inverted kitchen tables, others have taken refuge in their cars – one family of eight was stuffed into a compact Daewoo car in Chincha Alta outside their collapsed home.
The rescue effort has also been hampered by the aftershocks with a number of workers being injured by falling debris during the new ground movement. Landslides have also increased, especially alongside the Pan American highway.
But 100 miles up that same Pan American Highway in Lima the aftershocks are not nearly affecting the people as much. During some of the strong tremors in the last few days it has been surprising to see the Limeños simply go about their work as if nothing was happening.
This included construction workers on a 15th floor scaffolding in the heart of Lima who just went about their work while the ground shook steadily for about 25 seconds! For those of us down below who had fled the seeming safety of a hotel lobby across the street, the courage(?) of these workers was extraordinary to watch.ENDIT
