1970 Huascarán debris avalanche

An earthquake struck Peru's Ancash region at 3:23 p.m. local time and broke a large section of glacier and rock from the summit of Mount Huascarán. The resulting wave of ice, rock and mud moved toward Yungay at speeds reported above 180 miles per hour. The town lay directly in its path and was buried, with neighbouring villages, under an estimated 50 to 100 million cubic metres of debris.

Date

1970-05-31

Deaths (Wikipedia list, low end where it gives a range)

30000

What the pin marks

Yungay, the town the avalanche buried, as the cited page positions it, not the mountain the avalanche fell from.

Where the position is published

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santo_Domingo_de_Yungay

Category: Disasters & Incidents

Tags: peru, earthquake-triggered, yungay, glacier

Coordinates: -9.13889, -77.74444

Part of Avalanches that killed 50 or more people since 1900

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