Sabancaya volcano area earthquake, Southern Peru – at least 3 injured and 20 collapsed houses

Last update: July 17, 2013 at 10:26 am by By Ashish Khanal

Update 04:09 UTC : USGS has even increased the Magnitude from 5.9 to 6 now. USGS is further expecting a MMI VII or very strong shaking directly near the volcano. Such a shaking will be very damaging and serious injuries and even fatalities cannot be excluded.

Update 04:03 UTC : A strange situation as IGP Peru is not confirming the M6.0 (all 3 international agencies are reporting M5.9 !), but is reporting a Ml5.1 at a depth of 15 km. This means NO direct eruption related earthquake (15 km is too deep) but one of the similar earthquakes on the volcano so far.
A big eruption of the volcano would have certainly be heard in Arequipa, a big Peruvian city. The earthquake was however well felt in Arequipa.

Update 03:51 UTC : The earthquake was not even felt in Arequipa as we expected but we ara  still worried about the people close to the volcano. We will certainly get more information when daylight arrives.
Local press thinks to now that the earlier, weaker, earthquakes today were not related to the volcano, but confirm that the M 5.9 was one very close to the volcano. The 5 earlier today were close to Arequipa.

Update 03:48 UTC : Even without the volcano erupting, this earthquake will be damaging for the surrounding villages where weaker earthquakes did inflict damage earlier this year.

Another, this time very strong, earthquake near the Sabancaya volcano in Southern Peru.

12km (7mi) W of Chivay, Peru
84km (52mi) NNW of Arequipa, Peru
148km (92mi) SW of Ayaviri, Peru
150km (93mi) NE of Camana, Peru
393km (244mi) WNW of La Paz, Bolivia

Most important Earthquake Data:

Magnitude : 6

Local Time (conversion only below land) : 2013-07-16 21:37:45

GMT/UTC Time : 2013-07-17 02:37:45

Update 10:23 UTC : Landslides are blocking various road in the area. People in Cabanaconde are using the Plaza de Armas as a safe retreat. We expect more news the following hours as we are getting in the morning hours in Peru (daylight)

Update 06:52 UTC : The Civil Defense services of the Caylloma province report that 20 houses collapsed, five in Huambo and 15 in Canabaconde. This news is coming out in the middle of the Peruvian night. Only at daylight the full damage impact will be visible.  We expect the damage to further increase the coming hours. Number of injured had increased from 2 to 3.

Update 05:45 UTC : El Commercio Peru reports at last 2 elderly people injured in Cabanaconde (Caylloma province). Currently we know about 15 destroyed houses and a number of collapsed walls.
The report also states that people at  Cabanaconde left their houses for a nearby local school.
We fear that the damage reports will increase further later today.
Ingemmet (Geológico Minero Metalúrgico) indicates that the increased activity in the area may be related to the Sabancaya volcano.

Update 04:45 UTC : Our Volcano specialist Rodger Wilson wrote this yesterday evening UTC : Larger magnitude earthquakes are now occurring within the current earthquake swarm at Sabancaya volcano (Peru) (station SAB). He was definitely right ! This was the seismogram from yesterday.

Update 04:32 UTC : We consider it very good news that somebody from Chivay was able to go on the internet and tell the world that the shaking was really bad. Able to use the internet is at least that he is OK and that telecommunications are still working.

Update 04:15 UTC : We have so far NO direct news from Chivay, Peru a tourist village very close to the volcano. As the hypocenter was very shallow (USGS reports 6.6 km) the main problems might be coming from an area as narrow as 25 km around the volcano.
Based an the recent seismogram from Sabancaya, we think it did NOT erupt. NO continuous tremor can e seen on the seismogram, only the series of earthquakes.

from:    http://earthquake-report.com/2013/07/17/very-strong-earthquake-southern-peru-on-july-17-2013/