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Peru carried out a nationwide safety drill on Thursday to see howauthorities respond to a cataclysmic 8-magnitude earthquake with anepicenter just west of the capital, and the resulting tsunami. Authorities fear that such a quake and tsunami could kill more than50,000 people, destroy about 200,000 homes, and leave some twomillion people homeless. "This toll represents the worst case scenario if we are notprepared," Lima Mayor Susana Villaran, who leads civil defenseefforts, told AFP. Thousands of workers streamed onto the streets of Lima, populationeight million, when the drill kicked off at 10:00 am (1500 GMT). At that moment the pretend quake struck 190 km (118 miles) west inthe Pacific, unleashing a tsunami that would take 15 to 20 minutesto hit the coast. Officials said some 80 percent of residents actively participatedin drill. Goals of the exercise included evaluating how authorities respond,how prepared the public was, and how the emergency and evacuationroutes worked, especially in areas that could be flooded by atsunami. "We left the hospital quickly but in an orderly fashion, takingscores of patients with us," said Milagros Perez, a doctor atLima's maternity hospital. Perez carried a child down four floors and stood in the middle ofthe street, following advice from civil defense officials, afterthe "quake" struck. Every year the Andean nation of more than 28 million is rattled bylow-intensity quakes because it sits on the edge of the Nazcatectonic plate. It is critical "to know what to do, and who should do it, in thefirst 24 to 72 hours after an earthquake," Villaran warned. Part of the sense of urgency is that Lima has not had a majorearthquake in more than 250 years. "We have to consider that earthquakes are cyclical beasts,"explained Hernan Tavera, top quake expert at the GeophysicalInstitute of Peru earlier this week. The last powerful quake to strike Lima was in October 1746, and isbelieved to have been as strong as the 8.8 magnitude quake that hitsouthern Chile in February 2010, Tavera said. The quake and the tsunami wave that followed, which devastated thenearby port city of Callao, killed between 15,000 and 20,000people. Lima has experienced two strong quakes in living memory: a 7.5magnitude quake in October 1966 that left 200 dead and caused aminor tsunami, and another in October 1974 at 7.2-magnitude whichkilled 252 people. Another 300,000 lost their homes. Jitters about a potentially devastating quake have been mounting inLima, in part because of the 2007 earthquake that hit Pisco -- 250kilometers to the south -- that left more than 500 people dead, andintense coverage of the Chile's 2010 earthquake and Japan'sdevastating 2011 quake and tsunami. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as China 3528 SMD Leds , China Dot Matrix Led Displays for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits High Power White Leds.
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