Five Minutes Between Magnitude 7.5 and 7.6 Earthquakes in Peru

Summary: Magnitude 7.5 and 7.6 earthquakes in Peru November 24, 2015, have no casualties or damages despite gas, mining, and oil projects in inland Madre de Dios.

USGS ShakeMap of second Peruvian earthquake, 7.6 magnitude, Nov. 24, 2015, at 22:50 Universal Coordinated Time: USGS ShakeMap, Public Domain, via USGS Earthquake Hazards Program @ USGS Earthquake Hazards Program

No casualties or damages are reported from magnitude 7.5 and 7.6 earthquakes in southern Peru that occurred within five minutes of one another Nov. 24, 2015, in the Madre de Dios region.

Southern Peru borders Bolivia, near whose northwestern frontiers is the magnitude 7.5 earthquake's occurrence at 5:45 p.m. Eastern Standard Time [EST] (22:45 Coordinated Universal Time [UTC]). Peru’s southern borders continue northward along Brazil, near whose western borders lies the occurrence of the ensuing, magnitude 7.6 earthquake at 5:50 p.m. EST (22:50 UTC). The United States Geological Survey described the earthquakes as deep, down 373.2 miles (601.61 kilometers) with the first and 380.1 miles (611.71 kilometers) with the second.

Locals entertained a third earthquake’s “moderate” occurrence.

The USGS found epicenters in the Madre de Dios region 107 miles (172.19 kilometers) west-northwest of Iberia and 184 miles (296.12 kilometers) northwest of Puerto Maldonado.

Within 7.0 to 7.9 magnitude ranges, the earthquakes got “strong” descriptions, for shaking Brasília 154 miles (247.84 kilometers) eastwards and Lima 423 miles (681 kilometers) westwards. Abraham Levy, director of the weather firm Ambiand, held: “It’s such a deep movement that it moves out further and is felt over a wider area.” The earthquake zone is in the sparsely populated jungle interior where fewer than 1,000 people live even though gas, mining, and oil projects proliferate despite earthquakes.

Geophysicists join seismologists in considering Tuesday’s seismic activity generally unthreatening to scattered populations.

Inland locations well away from the coast kept Tuesday’s two earthquakes from generating tsunamis, which form according to the epicenter and the magnitude of the earthquake.

Coastal Peru lies on the southeastern segment of the Pacific Ocean’s Ring of Fire of earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes from the Americas, through Asia, to Australia. Depth, epicenter and magnitude merge to generate the biggest, longest tsunamis when subduction zones, where the Pacific Plate goes under the various continental plates, produce earthquakes. Fault lines need not be visible to be dangerous, as evidenced by the tsunami-generating subduction zone trenches off American, Asian, Australian, New Zealander and Tongan shores.

The South American trench off coastal Chile and southern Peru offers ample proof.

Geophysicists and seismologists peg the descriptions of moderate, strong, major and severe to the respectively increasingly severe earthquake moment magnitudes of 6, 7, 8, and 9.

The 9.5 magnitude earthquake of Valdivia, Chile, May 22, 1960, qualified the South American trench for the most disastrous earthquake-generator in the world, ever since 1900. But Peruvians remember the Peru-Chile trench as the source Aug. 15, 2007, of the 7.9 magnitude earthquake responsible for 519 deaths and the destruction of Pisco. An earthquake that, like Tuesday’s, endangers no people starts Paddington Bear on transoceanic stowaways from Peru to London after Uncle Pastouzo’s death and Aunt Lucy’s retirement.

USGS reports tally no wildlife impacts so Aunt Lucy is safe in Lima.

map of earthquakes 1900-2016 along South American arc (Nazca Plate and South America Plate); devastating Aug. 15, 2007, coastal Pisco earthquake is designated as M8.0 2007: USGS (U.S. Geological Survey), Public Domain, via USGS Earthquake Hazards Program

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

USGS ShakeMap of second Peruvian earthquake, 7.6 magnitude, Nov. 24, 2015, at 22:50 Universal Coordinated Time: USGS ShakeMap, Public Domain, via USGS Earthquake Hazards Program @ USGS Earthquake Hazards Program @ https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us100040x6#shakemap?source=us&code=us100040x6

map of earthquakes 1900-2016 along South American arc (Nazca Plate and South America Plate); devastating Aug. 15, 2007, coastal Pisco earthquake is designated as M8.0 2007: USGS (U.S. Geological Survey), Public Domain, via USGS Earthquake Hazards Program @ https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/tectonic/images/southamerica_tsum.pdf

For further information:

Associated Press. 25 November 2015. “Magnitude-7.5 Quake Shakes Sparsely Populated Area of Peru.” Fox News > World.
Available @ http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/11/25/magnitude-75-quake-shakes-sparsely-populated-area-peru/

Bond, Michael. 2014. A Bear Called Paddington. Illustrated by Peggy Fortnum. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

Byrne, Kevin. 26 November 2015. “Two Magnitude-7.6 Earthquakes Strike Eastern Peru.” AccuWeather > News.
Available @ http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/breaking-magnitude-75-earthqua-1/53806101

King, Paul. 2014. Paddington [(DVD) videorecording]. Beverly Hills, CA: Anchor Bay Entertainment.

"M 7.6 -- 173km WNW of Iberia, Peru." USGS Earthquake Hazards Program > Earthquakes > Earthquake Lists, Maps, and Statistics > World -- Magnitude 7+ in 2015.
Available @ https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us100040ww#executive

"M 7.6 -- 211km S of Tarauaca, Brazil." USGS Earthquake Hazards Program > Earthquakes > Earthquake Lists, Maps, and Statistics > World -- Magnitude 7+ in 2015.
Available @ https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us100040x6#executive

“Magnitude 7.5 Quake Strikes Peru: USGS.” Daily Times > Foreign > November 25, 2015.
Available @ http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/foreign/25-Nov-2015/magnitude-7-5-quake-strikes-peru-usgs

"M 8.0 -- near the coast of central Peru." USGS Earthquake Hazards Program > Earthquakes > Earthquake Lists, Maps, and Statistics > World -- Magnitude 7+ in 2015.
Available @ https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usp000fjta#executive

"Seismotectonics of South America (Nazca Plate Region)." USGS Earthquake Hazards Program > Earthquakes > Earthquake Lists, Maps, and Statistics > World -- Magnitude 7+ in 2015.
Available @ https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us100040x6#region-info

USGS Earthquakes @USGSEarthquakes. 24 November 2015. "7.6 - Peru-Brazil Border Region: Date: Tues, 24 Nov 2015 22:50:52 UTC Lat ..." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/USGSEarthquakes/status/669319417529024512