Earthquakes and Lack Thereof
Like the North American continent, South America is partially very active seismic-wise and partially stable – West and East. Randy and I discussed earthquakes a bit in Brazil because there are so many buildings in Brazil that could never withstand a good shake. The materials are fine – concrete and rebar – but they keep building verticle well beyond anything stable. This is not more prevalent than in the favelas where the highest densities of people exist. Then you have coastal Peru and for this week we have Pisco in particular.
As soon as I heard Peru had a 7.9 quake I thought about adobe and rickety old churches. Peru has to be one of the grand-daddies as far as earthquakes go and I did not visit anyplace except maybe the Amazon where earthquakes have left their mark. The main building material in Peru is adobe – mud. On the coastal areas of Peru where there is a lot of poverty, the adobe buildings are not even plastered with stucco to give the appearance of being well-constructed. They are straight-up bricks with questionable mortar, large amounts of that questionable mortar and there is usually no straight lines. I´ve been in a few collapsed churches in Latin America and one of them was not many kilometers from Pisco near Nasca. They provide an eerie setting for one to imagine being in there with a few hundred others when the big one hits. It is unlikely that anyone stands a chance of getting out safely. Even if you escape the building, the facade and belltowers are falling, too.
Now Pisco has a new ruin. In days past, they were saved for reminders of those lost? I´m not sure what they do now, but there are some sites near Pisco I hope to someday see so I´ll learn then what they do with it. Frankly, Pisco is not a pretty place and I would like to be optimistic that the quake will inject some new life into what I would have refered to as a “hole” a week ago. Hopefully, Brazil (like New York City – have you ever seen the crazy water tanks mounted on top of the buildings in that town!!!) will never have a quake. It has few ruins if any and it is better that way. The buildings are old and rickety enough without the devastation of an earthquake. And I would hate to have the cheeriest people on earth have something to be unhappy about.
Tags: brazil, peru, south america, Travel
vagabondrick
Hi Rick. What an adventure in Peru and first hand reminder of the power of an earthquake. I am captivated by the 6 trapped miners in Huntington UT. After an “explosion” in the mine that killed 3 would be rescuers, the oxygen levels dropped too low to sustain life and it is too dangerous to go into the mine to look for bodies. (still not even sure just where those 6 are!) The forces of Mother Nature sure are tremendous!