7.9 on the Richter scale

Last night, another earthquake hit Peru, especially Lima and Ica, so it seems I picked a good time to go home. The district where Michael was working was evacuated because of the risk of tsunamis, but apart from a few old buildings collapsing and the footpath receiving a slightly crinkled look, there were no major incidents in that area, Michael said. He and a Moroccan colleague managed to get on one of the buses back to San Miguel, and then went to cool their nerves with a couple of beers and pizza. In our flat, there were no casualties - not even the wine glasses (breaking them is still my prerogative)! Nevertheless, I think I would not have appreciated the floor swinging merrily below me and the cars bobbing up and down outside to a loud choir of assorted dogs - the first and most serious quake lasted for 70 seconds at 7.9 magnitude - that is a long time to decide whether you should just hold on to the front door frame and say your prayers or try to clamber down the 5 sets of wobbly stairs.

On a more serious note, Ica was badly hit, including one of the hospitals, and because of the breakdown (or lack in the first place) of communications up into the highlands, the figures of dead and injured are still vague. Ica is where tourists travel to see the Nasca lines, normally.
The president gave a speech to the nation, of which the more cynically inclined concluded that the only reason for it was that he had been right at the centre of the earthquake.
Apparently the earthquake, as has happened on several earlier occasions, was proceeded by an unusual change of weather - sunny and agreeable instead of the seasonally typical damp, overcast chill.