page_title: 1970 Huascarán debris avalanche
section_title: Casualties and losses
hierarchical_section_title: 1970 Huascarán debris avalanche / Casualties and losses
caption_attribution_description: Yungay cemetery in Ancash, Peru.
context_page_description: The 1970 Huascarán debris avalanche occurred on May 31, 1970 when a debris avalanche and mudflow triggered by the Ancash earthquake destroyed the Peruvian town of Yungay and ten nearby villages, leaving up to 18,000 people dead. It is the most deadly avalanche or glacier-related disaster in history, and the third or fourth most deadly landslide-related disaster of the 20th century, after the Haiyuan landslides, the Armero tragedy and by some estimates the Khait landslide.
  The north peak of Huascarán from which the avalanche originated had been considered unstable since 1962, when a smaller collapse wiped out several villages of the Callejón de Huaylas valley near Yungay. However, the provincial government made efforts to prevent the news from spreading and urged people not to panic. The 1970 earthquake destabilized a glacier and snowmass which surged rapidly downhill, becoming a mudflow as it accumulated large volumes of loose dirt, rock and surface water. The death toll was made worse due to the earthquake having occurred on a Sunday, as thousands more people had congregated in Yungay for market when the mudflow struck and leveled the city.
context_section_description: The number of deaths from the 1970 avalanche has been difficult to quantify; due to the sheer size of the devastated area and the depth to which the towns were buried, thousands of missing bodies were never found. Furthermore, the casualties in Yungay were greatly increased due to the disaster having occurred on Sunday – market day – when many people had come in from the countryside. Most estimates range between a total of 15,000 and 18,000 killed in Yungay and the surrounding villages, although some sources cite a death toll as high as 22,000 or 25,000.
  Only about 400 people survived in Yungay proper, 300 of which were children, who had been attending a circus in the local stadium; reportedly a clown led them to higher ground just in time before the mudflow struck. Ninety-two people also survived by climbing an artificial hill at the town cemetery. These were the only structures in town that remained intact, along with "a statue of Jesus Christ with his arms outstretched, standing tall above the rubble" which remains today as a memorial to the dead. A photograph of four palm trees that once surrounded Yungay's main plaza, half buried in the mudflow but still standing, became symbolic of the disaster.
  The debris covered a total area of 1,500 hectares (3,700 acres) and reached depths of up to 20 metres (66 ft) in the Ranrahirca area; in places the flow spread as wide as 4.3 kilometres (2.7 mi). Yungay town was buried under about 5 metres (16 ft) of debris. Much of the mud that initially buried the city drained away within a few days of the disaster, leaving a plain of larger rocks which remains today in much the same state.
caption: Upper level of the Yungay cemetery and Cristo Redentor statue; many people sought refuge here when the mudflow hit town
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