1970 5/31 20:23 UTC 9.24S 78.84W 73km deep Mw=7.9, Off Coast, North-Central Peru
The death toll of this earthquake was over 66,000. It is the 4th most deadly earthquake of the world in the 20th century. This disastrous earthquake destroyed about 200,000 homes and buildings and left approximately 800,000 people homeless in a region of 40,000 square miles.
We welcome contributions of digital files of materials relating to the 1970 Peru earthquake and financial donations to the endowment fund so that more seismograms can be scanned and made available online. In addition, an archivist is needed to edit and maintain this Archive. If you are interested, please contact W.H.K. Lee at lee@usgs.gov (office) or whklee@ix.netcom.com (home).
Archivist: A volunteer is needed.
Endowment Donors:
Contributors of Files: Charles R.
Hutt, and William H. K. Lee.
1. Seismograms of the 1970 Peru Earthquake: Please click the above link to view the selected seismograms of the 1970 Peru earthquake recorded by the WWSSN stations.
view directory of compressed tif images (gzip files)
2. Selected Information about the 1970 Peru Earthquake now Online: Cluff, L. S. (1971). Peru earthquake of May 31, 1970; engineering geology observations. _ Bull. Seism. Soc. Am._, v. 61, p. 511-533. Lomnitz, C. (1971). The Peru earthquake of May 31, 1970: Some preliminary seismological results. Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., v. 61, p. 535-542. Plafker, G., G. E. Ericksen, and J. F. Concha (1971). Geological aspects of the May 31, 1970, Peru earthquake. Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., v. 61, p. 543-578.
3. References:
Berg, G. V., and R. Husid (1971). Structural effects of the Peru earthquake. Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., v. 61, p. 613-631.
Cloud, W. K., and V. Perez (1971). Unusual accelerograms recorded at Lima, Peru. Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., v. 61, p. 633-640.
Cluff, L. S. (1971). Peru earthquake of May 31, 1970; engineering geology observations. Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., v. 61, p. 511-533.
Enkeboll, W. (1971). Soil behavior and related effects in the Peru earthquake of May 31, 1970. Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., v. 61, p. 579-590.
Lomnitz, C. (1971). The Peru earthquake of May 31, 1970: Some preliminary seismological results. Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., v. 61, p. 535-542.
Plafker, G., G. E. Ericksen, and J. F. Concha (1971). Geological aspects of theMay 31, 1970, Peru earthquake. Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., v. 61, p. 543-578.
Meehan, J. F. (1971). Performance of school buildings in the Peru earthquake of May 31, 1970. Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., v. 61, p. 591-608.
Stratta, J. L., and J. Feldman (1971). Interaction of infill walls and concrete frames during earthquakes. Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., v. 61, p. 609-612.
(Last Updated: November 27, 2004)
