City of Friendship - Huaraz

Between the majestic western Black Mountains and in the east, the White Mountain Range of Huaraz is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Bishop. Also called The Switzerland of Peru, skiers and mountaineers from all over the world enjoy the challenge of the highest elevation at 22 205 ft.

It was a Sunday, May 31 1970. The local Catholic Church hosted a mass gathering for all the surrounding congregations. A matinee show with tickets at half price, 300 children attended the visiting circus that day and a bus full of soccer enthusiasts pulled over to watch the final FIFA match between Italy and Brazil.

At about 15:23 local time, a magnitude of 8 on the Richter scale earthquake epicentre from the Pacific Ocean and 45 seconds later, 83 000 square kilometres of buildings and roads crumbled. The quake destabilized the glacier on the north face of Mount Huascaran and glacial deposits, debris of snow, rocks and ice thundered down at 193 kilometers per hour.  This quake-induced rock and snow avalanche killed an estimated 30 000 inhabitants and wiped out the entire city of Yungay in the minutes to follow. Almost 70 000 people died on that day. It is believed that the 300 children were lead to a higher location by a clown from the circus and survived the disaster. A tourist took footage from where he stood in the cemetery designed by Swiss architect Arnold Ruska, who also died as a result of the landslide. Due to the nature of the film, the Peruvian Government claimed and locked it away.

To stand between the huge rocks constituting a significant part of the mountain’s crust is, to say the least, somewhat unnerving.    

Towering in front of the city is the tiered Cemetery of Yungay with the almost undamaged original statue of Christ at the top - a grievous tourist attraction.  Four original palm trees that once crowned the city’s main plaza, the crushed bus and remnants of the church between huge boulders are a grim reminder of the tragedy.

However, upon the rubble of the deadliest seismic disaster, townships were erected and with  sincere  dedication and piety, locals make a decent living alongside the mountains. They reap from the abundance of life, upholding their faith and offer mineral baths and hiking trails to visitors. Huaraz is known as the capital of International Friendship and Huascaran is totally worth the climbing.

 Photographs courtesy of Intuitive Composition