The disaster
Close your eyes and imagine you are living in the town of Yungay, Peru. You are leaving your home to head to dinner with some friends in a nearby town. At about 3:23 the ground below you starts to shake and convulse. You realize there is an earthquake. 45 seconds later it stops but you hear a crack in the distance and turn around to see large glacier tumbling down Mount Huarscaran. Immediately you race 100 meters to the cemetery built on higher ground. The moment you reach the top you turn around and you see a giant wave of mud 60 meters high completely take over your town along with several others.
That is exactly what happened January 10th to a survivor of the Avalanche that struck Yungay, Peru. No actions were taken to keep people safe due to the 7 minute gap between the crack of the ice and the actual avalanche. People closer to the mountain scurried as fast as they could to higher ground but ran out of luck in the end.
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People were left to find Higher ground on their own within those 7 minutes.A circus that was visiting town at a local stadium led over 300 kids to higher ground as soon as the Earthquake started. They were able to save themselves and the children around them due to their heroic actions.
The Peruvian government wouldn't allow any evacuation of the areas farther from the mountain that had more time to take proper action during the situation. Because of this over 4,000 people were found dead and several more that were never found or heard from ever again.
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http://peaceris2006.blogspot.com/2007/11/avalanche.html
http://www.peruviantimes.com/31/yungay-1970-2009-remembering-the-tragedy-of-the-earthquake/3073/
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/avalanche-kills-thousands-in-peru#ifrndnloc
http://milhomme.blogspot.com/2014/04/25000-people-buried-alive-yungay-peru.html
http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/earthsc202notes/masswast.htm
http://giphy.com
http://www.peruviantimes.com/31/yungay-1970-2009-remembering-the-tragedy-of-the-earthquake/3073/
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/avalanche-kills-thousands-in-peru#ifrndnloc
http://milhomme.blogspot.com/2014/04/25000-people-buried-alive-yungay-peru.html
http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/earthsc202notes/masswast.htm
http://giphy.com