thumb|right|Photograph taken after the 1970 avalanche showing the buried towns of Yungay and Ranrahirca
The '''1962 Ranrahirca Landslide''' was a deadly debris avalanche that affected the Ranrahirca District, alongside the river Santa, near Huascarán, the highest mountain in Peru. Ranrahirca has twice been devastated by massive avalanches of snow, rocks and mud originating on the slopes of Huascarán, triggered by earthquakes on 10 January 1962 and on 31 May 1970. Over two thousand people from the village perished in the 1962 avalanche, along with the inhabitants of seven nearby settlements.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/196211/1962-06#page/n165/mode/2up National Geographic June 1962]</ref> In total about 3,500 died in the disaster.<ref>Lane, F. W. ''The Elements Rage'' (David & Charles 1966), pp. 88-9 & plates 40-41</ref> About 20,000 people died in the 1970 avalanche set off by the second earthquake (known as the 1970 Ancash earthquake).<ref name="basusdi">{{cite journal|last=U.S. Dept. of the Interior|date=October 1970|title=The Peru Earthquake: a Special Study|journal=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists|volume=26|issue=8|pages=17–19|doi=10.1080/00963402.1970.11457853 |bibcode=1970BuAtS..26h..17. }}</ref> 400 survived from the second disaster.<ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/11/newsid_3306000/3306665.stm BBC on this day]</ref>
==See also== * Yungay, Peru
==References== {{reflist}} *[https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/11/newsid_3306000/3306665.stm?promoid=googlep BBC News "On this day" website] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20081007051218/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,895837,00.html?promoid=googlep Time magazine article]
==External links== '''Earthquake of 31 May 1970''' * {{in lang|es}} [http://www.chimboteonline.com/earthquake.html Earthquake 31 May 1970] (chimboteonline) * {{in lang|es}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20120113133423/http://www.yungayperu.com.pe/sismo.htm Earthquake 31 May 1970] (yungayperu.com, with details and fotos of the catastrophe)
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Category:Populated places in the Department of Ancash Category:Destroyed populated places Category:Landslides in Peru Category:1960s landslides Category:1962 natural disasters Category:1970 natural disasters Category:1970s landslides Category:1962 disasters in Peru Category:1970 disasters in Peru Category:January 1962 in South America Category:May 1970 in South America