Summary Lima is the capital of Peru and is located on the west coast of South America. They are near the South American and Nazca tectonic plate boundary. Lima has earthquakes often. This is no surprise because when two tectonic plates collide an earthquake occurs. Sometimes if the earthquake happens far enough out to sea it can cause a tsunami. A tsunami is a huge wave that moves really fast. It is difficult to predict a tsunami in advance. It usually creates mass devastation.
Economic Impact Peru’s economy is dependent on exports. Peru’s major exports are fish products, gold, silver, copper, zinc, lead, coffee, asparagus, petroleum products, and textiles. When a strong earthquake strikes it hurts Peru in two main areas, damage to the city and also lost money because they can’t export products. It is expensive to repair the damages to homes, other buildings, roads, and bridges. The country has less money at this time because they usually have to stop exports while they repair the ports and ships. The unemployment rate in Peru is less than 10%
Daily Life Peru is a market-oriented place. It has many street stalls and vendors. Peruvians eat fish and rice a lot. Many people farm in Peru and Lima. Mining is also a very common occupation. People work long hours usually 6 days a week. Peru also has numerous festivals throughout the year.
Disaster Preparedness
History
In Peru there are two associations: Design-Basis Earthquake and Maximum Design Earthquake. These companies both help to make buildings more capable to withstand an earthquake. Since Peru has a long history of earthquakes they have learned a lot about which structures stand up to a quake. After an earthquake strikes there will be large sheets on the streets with either a big S on it or a yellow circle. Rescue crews put these in place.
Peru has suffered from many earthquakes in the past. Record keeping about earthquake began in 1533. There have been 38 major earthquakes in Lima since then. The most recent one was in August of 2007, it was 8.2 and 7.9 on the Richter scale and lasted about 2 minutes. Small earthquakes could be happening right now but it may not be noticeable. There have been earthquakes in Lima for a very long time and will occur for a long
In school the kids will have earthquake drills in which the kids hide under their desk, this method is called ‘stop, drop, hold on’. The other drill is called the ‘Triangle of Life’ this method says that a person t should run near a bulky object and take the fetal position next to it.
time to come.