300 homes destroyed by Tsunami in Peru

[jannyk]

Wow. From the BBC Live Earthquake update pages

#
1938: More on the effects of the quake around the world: In Peru, the mayor of the town of Pisco says tsunami waves destroyed about 300 houses as they swept into the town square - about 400 people spent the night in tents.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698

[virgogal]

1. Astonishing-----nature is so incredibly powerful.

[northoftheborder]

2. hadn't heard that. I need to listen to BBC more. I had it on the other night (radio) for...

the best uptodate world news.

[jannyk]

3. I am watching BBCWorld TV, but this came from their quake page

on their website - updates constantly here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698

[suffragette]

4. More info on impact on South America here

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Minor+damage+Latin+America+Japan+tsunami/4430494/story.html

The article is headlined: Minor damage in Latin America by Japan’s tsunami

I guess that's in comparison to previous tsunamis there that did worse damage, though 300 homes destroyed seems pretty significant to me. Looks like they did a good job of evacuating areas of concern which helped tremendously.


From the article:

Civil defense officials in Peru had ordered the evacuation of Pisco and Paracas, two towns south of Lima that suffered the effects of a tsunami triggered by a powerful earthquake in 2007, as well as Camana, struck by a tsunami in 2001.

In the town of Pueblo Nuevo de Colan, in the far northern Piura region, the ocean withdrew some 200 meters from the beach early Saturday before returning with force and destroying several seaside homes, said Mayor Raymundo Dioses.

In the southern port of Pisco, the ocean surged into the town square and damaged about 300 houses.

~~~

Further south in Chile — still recovering from the 8.8 magnitude earthquake and tsunami that struck the country in late February 2010 — President Sebastian Pinera said a coastal evacuation he ordered saved lives.