Yungay, also known as Yungay Nuevo (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

for "New Yungay"), is a town in the

Ancash Region Ancash (; ) is a department and region in western Peru. It is bordered by the departments of La Libertad on the north, Huánuco and Pasco on the east, Lima on the south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. Its capital is the city of Huaraz, ...

in north central

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

Geography

Yungay is located in the

Callejón de Huaylas The Santa Valley (Quechua language, Quechua ''Sancta'') is an inter-andean valley in the Ancash Region in the north-central highlands of Peru. Due to its location between two mountain ranges, it is known as Callejón de Huaylas, the Alley of Huayl ...

on Río Santa at an elevation of approximately 2,500 meters, 450 km north of

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

, the country's capital. East of the small town are the mountain ridges of snow-covered

Cordillera Blanca The Cordillera Blanca (Spanish for "white range") is a mountain range in Peru that is part of the larger Andes range and extends for between 8°08' and 9°58'S and 77°00' and 77°52'W, in a northwesterly direction. It includes several peaks ove ...

, with

Huascarán Huascarán (), ( Quechua: Waskaran), Nevado Huascarán or Mataraju is a mountain located in Yungay Province, Department of Ancash, Peru. It is situated in the Cordillera Blanca range of the western Andes. The southern summit of Huascarán (Huasc ...

, Peru's highest mountain, no more than 15 km east of Yungay. Yungay is the capital of Yungay Province, as well as the main town in the

Yungay District Yungay district is a district in the Province of Yungay in the Ancash region, Peru. It was created by law on October 28, 1904.Yungay PeruYungay Peru retrieved March 7, 2008 Geography The Cordillera Blanca traverses the province. Waskaran, the ...

. While the town counts approximately 10,000 inhabitants (2010 projection based on 2007 census data), Yungay Province has a population of 60,000 (2000 estimate). The Province of Yungay occupies part of the

, the Conchucos Valley (Yanama), the coast of Ancash (Quillo) and the

Huascarán National Park Huascarán National Park () is a Peruvian national park that comprises most of the mountain range known as Cordillera Blanca (the world's highest tropical mountain range) which is part of the central Andes, in the region of Ancash. The park cov ...

History

The

United Restoration Army The United Restoration Army, also called simply as the Restoration Army, was a land military force that operated between the years 1837 and 1839, which had the objective of ending the Peru-Bolivian Confederation, led by General Andrés de Sant ...

, a Chilean-Peruvian army during the

War of the Confederation The War of the Confederation () was a military confrontation waged by the United Restoration Army, the alliance of the land and naval forces of Chile and the Restoration Army of Peru, formed in 1836 by Peruvian soldiers opposed to the conf ...

, defeated the army of the Peru-Bolivian Confederation during the

Battle of Yungay The Battle of Yungay (or Yungai) was the final battle of the War of the Confederation, fought on January 20, 1839, near Santo Domingo de Yungay, Yungay, Peru. The United Restoration Army, led by Chilean General Manuel Bulnes, consisting mainly ...

on 20 January 1839, marking the dissolution of the short-lived confederacy.

1962 avalanche

On 11 January 1962 an avalanche from Huascarán destroyed

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, roc ...

and eight other villages in which an estimated 4,000 were killed. Yungay was saved.BBC on this day
/ref>

Ancash earthquake

In 1962, two American scientists, David Bernays and Charles Sawyer, had reported seeing a massive vertical slab of rock being undermined by a glacier on mount Huascarán Norte, which threatened to fall and cause the obliteration of Yungay. According to Sawyer, when this was reported in the ''Expreso'' newspaper (27 September 1962), the government ordered them to retract or face prison, and they fled the country. Citizens were forcibly prevented from speaking of an impending disaster. Eight years later, the prediction came true. Cristo Blanco Yungay

On 31 May 1970, the Ancash earthquake caused a substantial part of the north side of a mountain,

Nevado Huascarán Nevado (1813? – 1821) was a Mucuchies dog that was given to Simón Bolívar by the local people of Mucuchíes, Mérida, in the Venezuelan Andes. Life It was given as a kind of present shortly after the Battle of Niquitao during his triu ...

, to collapse and an unstable mass of glacial ice about 800 meters across at the top of Nevado Huascarán to fall. This caused a

debris avalanche Debris flows are geological phenomena in which water-laden masses of soil and fragmented rock flow down mountainsides, funnel into stream channels, entrain objects in their paths, and form thick, muddy deposits on valley floors. They generally ...

, burying the town of Yungay and killing 20,000 people (400 survived). More than 50 million cubic meters of debris slid approximately 15 kilometers downhill at an angle of about 14 degrees. Speeds between 340 mph to 620 mph (540-1000 km/h) were achieved. Most of the survivors were in the cemetery and stadium at the time of the

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

, as these zones were the highest in town. The Peruvian government has forbidden excavation in the area where the old town of Yungay is buried, declaring it a national cemetery. The current town was rebuilt north of the destroyed city. Cementerio Yungay

Climate

References

External links

Caves
Guitarrero caves near Yungay (Peru). First agriculture evidence of Peru 10,000 years ago
(maps and photographs) Earthquake of 31 May 1970 *

(chimboteonline) *

(yungayperu.com, with details and photos of the catastrophe) {{Coord, 09, 08, 22, S, 77, 44, 42, W, region:PE_type:city, display=title Populated places destroyed by earthquakes Former populated places in Peru Populated places in the Department of Ancash 20th-century avalanches Earthquakes in Peru 1970 in Peru