Journal of Seismology 6: 279283, 2002.

2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.

279

The Arequipa (Peru) earthquake of June 23, 2001

H. Tavera1 , E. Buforn2 , I. Bernal1 , Y. Antayhua1 & L. Vilacapoma1

1 CentroNacional de Datos Sismologa, Instituto Geofsica del Peru, Peru; 2 Dpto de Geofsica y Meteorologa,
Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain

Received 28 September 2001; accepted in revised form 2 November 2001

Key words: Arequipa earthquake, focal mechanism, intensity, tsunami

Abstract
The Arequipa earthquake of 23 June 2001 has been the largest earthquake (Mw = 8.3)occurred in the last century
in southern Peru with a maximum intensity of VIII (MM scale). Focal mechanisms of main shock and three larger
aftershocks have been studied, showing thrusting solutions for main shock and two aftershocks and normal motion
for the event of July, 5. The rupture area has been obtained from distribution of aftershocks. The occurrence of the
Arequipa earthquake is related with the convergence process between the Nazca and South America plates.

Introduction The southern region of Peru is shaken frequently

On June 23, 2001 a catastrophic earthquake (Mw =
8.3) occurred at 20h 33m 14.2s off the southern coast
of Peru, 82 km at NW of Ocoa city, in the Are-
quipa department. The epicenter was located at 16.20
S, 73.75W, with focal depth of 38 km (Instituto
Geofsico de Peru, IGP). Over 74 people were killed
and 2.689 injured, with more than 80 villages severely
damaged in the departments of Arequipa, Moquegua
and Tacna (Peru) and Arica and Iquique (Chile) (Fig-
ure 1). About 217400 persons suffered the effects by
the earthquake. More than 35000 houses were dam-
aged and 17580 totally destroyed. The earthquake was
followed by a local tsunami with wave height of 8
10 m in Camana city, that killed 23 people and a total
of 64 persons missing. This earthquake is related to the
subduction of the Nazca plate under the South Amer-
ica plate, with a convergence velocity of 810 cm/yr
(Minster and Jordan, 1978). This convergence process
has also caused the large earthquakes (M>7) in the
central and southern regions of Peru in 1746, 1868,
1940, 1942, 1966, 1974 and 1996. The Arequipa
earthquake is located 250 km SE of the 1996 earth-
quake (November 12, Mw = 7.7) and at the northern
border of the fault associated with the large earthquake
of 1868 (Mw = 9.0), which generated a tsunami with
maximum height tides of 16 m.
by large earthquakes located between the Peru-
Chilean Trench and the coast, many of which also
generate tsunamis. Focal mechanisms of these earth-
quakes generally correspond to reverse motions with
nodal planes oriented in a NNW-SSE direction and
a near horizontal plane dipping to the east, that cor-
responds to the subducted plate (Tavera and Buforn,
2001).
Isoseismal map
The intensity map for the Arequipa earthquake (Fig-
ure 1) has been compiled using information from more
than 60 towns. The isoseismal lines show an ellipt-
ical distribution. A maximum intensity of VIII (MM
scale) was reached in the cities of Ocoa, Camana and
Mollendo. The isoseismal IV has the major axis of
1150 km oriented in a NW-SE direction parallel to the
coast. In Arequipa city many churches and historical
monuments have been severely damaged, in the rest
of the Arequipa, Moquegua and Tacna departments,
major damage correspond to old adobe and quinche
buildings. On the Panamericana Sur road (the main
road in this area), several cracks developed, oriented
parallel to the coast and several landslides occurred.
Similar effects were observed in the cities of Arica
280

Figure 1. Isoseismal map for the Arequipa earthquake. The star shows the epicenter of the main shock.

and Iquique, in Chile. In the interior of the contin-
ent, the earthquake was felt in Cuzco (Peru) and La
Paz (Bolivia), 300 and 600 km from the epicenter
respectively.
The occurrence of a tsunami was not expected due
to the location of the epicenter close to the coast-
line. However, the sea level increased 3040 cm from
Ocoa to Molledo (Figure 1). After 1520 minutes,
the sea retreated 100200 m from the coast line
between Chala and Mollendo (200m in Camana and
Ocoa, 150 m in Chala y 100 m in en Ilo). This res-
ulted in a local tsunami, with waves of 78 m, that
produced damage in the towns located in the coast
of Canam, with floods in an area of 1.6 km2 , par-
allel to the coast This local tsunami may be related
to the complexity of the rupture that produced the
earthquake.