History: Did the earth move for you too?

Following is an email I wrote in August last year, just after a real earthquake struck the area around the farm.

I'll also post a later e-mail describing the damage, and when I get time I'll give my one-year-on impressions of reconstruction.


Hi all,

I’m back on-line in Lima, and the flow of ‘are you ok?’ emails is growing so I thought I’d get in first with my ‘yes’ answer as reassurance to anyone else who is likely to care, is interested in Peru, or seismology, or happens to be in my contacts list.

Yes, there was a major (just upgraded to richter 8.0) earthquake in Peru, and it hit the area of our farm (between Ica and Pisco) very hard. I was lucky enough to have left the farm the day before for Lima so I was in the city office meeting our GM when the building started to tremble. Windows shook, the floor vibrated, and the blinds swayed enough for me to peek at the next building to check for any visible movement. There wasn’t. This went on a while and we kept talking while I was thinking ‘They have these regularly in Peru, don’t they?’ and keeping it cool. Eventually the sounds of pounding evacuees on the stairs stopped. When we realised we were alone in the building the GM and I started to feel a little uneasy at the same time. We managed to keep it to a brisk walk down the stairs to join the crowds.

The street was really weird. A moving building is a bit like a train, plane, or boat: you can adjust, but to feel the earth seriously wobbling, to see trees flopping back and forth without apparent cause, undermines any sense of what you can rely on. When I finally asked ‘Do you often have quakes here?’ the answer was ‘Yes, but never before like this.’

All that seemed to go for a long, long time - two minutes we later learned. When the earth stood still, we went back in and resumed the meeting, but without much interest. I gave up for the day, drove back to the hotel then went for a walk. Everything seemed so normal (admittedly, normal means utter chaos on the roads) people were shopping eating, strolling, despite the odd after shock. These shocks continued all night – the paper says there were over 100 minor tremors, though I only woke up for a few of them.

(Another aftershock is hitting as I am typing now – the building is swaying but the window is just tik-tiking, no full blooded rattles any more)

Today we have been trying to contact the farm staff, who reported via email that they are OK and taking the day off to help out our very pregnant nursery manager, whose house is badly damaged. In the area, phone lines, most mobile networks are down, power is off, but somehow email gets through.

In nearby towns, large numbers of houses have been destroyed, (though these are mostly DIY adobe buildings) See the email below from the daughter of our neighbour on the farm.


Hi John, I hope you are fine. Here in Lima we are ok. All my family, father, mother, brothers, etc.

my sister in law was alone in Pisco, with the two little children... we couldnt contact her until midnight (my little nephew had a mobile phone he got as a present for his birthday, and THAT was the phone that worked!).. they are ok, buy they didnt sleep in the appartment, they slept in the car in the street.

my father and my brother, drove to Pisco last night, by they could cross the bridge, it collapsed. so they chose another route... and I still dont know if they finally arrived to Pisco.

80% of the houses collapsed in Pisco. is a horror.

Thanks God, friends and family, up-to-now are ok, without home, but ok.

Note everyone is so lucky. Last reports were that 500 are dead in the region. Public buildings have collapsed, including churches, a hospital, a jail (hundreds of escapees are still loose) and with classic bad timing, the morgue.

Next week we have 40,000 trees arriving and will need to get them to the farm and into the nursery, so I’ll be heading into what the president has declared as a disaster area. With luck the pan-americano (highway) will be open by then.

So, if you were going to ask, there is your answer. However I love email so please don’t let it stop you mailing to say hello. I’ll even put you on the list for any further bulletins.

John