M 6.0 - 10 km SW of Atiquipa, Peru

  • 2024-06-16 14:47:33 (UTC)
  • 15.856°S 74.435°W
  • 27.0 km depth

Ground Failure

ShakeMap shaking estimates used by Ground Failure are preliminary and will be updated as data arrive from a variety of distributed sources. Check for subsequent updates.
Contributed by US last updated 2024-07-22 14:58:16 (UTC)
  • The data below are the most preferred data available
  • The data below have NOT been reviewed by a scientist.
Version 5

We developed this product to provide initial awareness of the overall extent and importance of potential landslides and liquefaction, and to indicate areas in which they are most likely to have occurred. It takes time for first responders and experts to survey the actual damage in the area, so our product provides early estimates of where to focus attention and response planning. Though our models provide regional estimates of landslide and liquefaction hazard triggered by this earthquake, they do not predict specific occurrences.

See the Ground Failure Background page for technical details about our models and alert levels.

How to use this product

If the earthquake directly impacted you or someone you care about, this tool can be useful to understand the impacts from ground motion. This information can help you make informed decisions about your safety or the safety of people you care about. If you are a first responder, building engineer, emergency manager or decision maker, this product can provide early situational awareness of where landslides and liquefaction may have occurred during the critical first hours of response. You can also use it to understand what areas may be hazardous or where people may need immediate assistance.

Landslides

landslide diagram

Landslides are commonly triggered by earthquakes in mountainous or hilly regions and can cause deaths, injuries, and damage. This general term includes all types of landslides such as rock slides, rock falls, and debris avalanches. In some cases, landslides can travel great distances downslope from where they started. Earthquakes can trigger widespread landsliding that can result in long-term disruption by blocking transportation corridors, destroying infrastructure, and damming waterways causing flooding hazards. In many cases, increased landslide hazard can persist for years after the earthquake as slopes weakened and cracked by the mainshock can be mobilized by aftershocks and precipitation, and debris deposited in channels by landslides can be mobilized into hazardous debris flows.

Liquefaction

liquefaction diagram

Liquefaction is the loss of strength of loose, saturated soils caused by earthquake shaking that results in soil that behaves more like a liquid than a solid. Liquefaction can cause buildings to tilt, sand and water to be ejected in “sand volcanoes”, and the ground surface to be permanently deformed. Artificial fill is particularly susceptible to liquefaction. Liquefaction-induced lateral spreading is a related phenomenon where blocks of soil spread apart and move down gentle slopes along an underlying liquefied layer. Although liquefaction can cause major damage to buildings and infrastructure, it has not caused nearly as many deaths in the past as landslides.