LA REPUBLICA (Peru)

LIMA – A government geological institute in Lima has confirmed what many Peruvians are already keenly aware of: there’s a whole lot of shaking going on.

Already in 2012, Peru has registered 66 quakes, according to the Instituto Geofísico del Perú (IGP). On average, the coastal country – which is part of the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire – experiences between 150 and 170 temblors per year.

With this kind of rumbling regularity, Peruvians tend to be blasé about quakes, even in the populous capital of Lima, where an 8.1-magnitude quake in 1974 killed an estimated 50,000. But a report by the Peruvian government’s Institute Nacional de Defensa Civil (INDECI) suggests that the city’s 7.5 million residents indeed have cause for concern. In the case of an 8.0-magnitue quake or larger, “the capital could suffer more than 50,000 deaths and more than 400,000 injuries,” La Republica reported.

So much for learning from history.

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