Reply #18: We lost 60,000 people in an instant in Peru when what they are running from happened

[L. Coyote]

These palm trees stood tall over the town plaza!

There was no warning!

1970 Ancash earthquake
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970_Ancash_earthquake

The quake destabilized the northern wall of Mount Huascarán, causing a rock, ice and snow avalanche and burying the towns of Yungay and Ranrahirca. The avalanche started as a sliding mass of glacial ice and rock about 3,000 feet wide and one mile long. It advanced about 11 miles to the village of Yungay at an average speed of more than 100 miles per hour. The fast-moving mass picked up glacial deposits and by the time it reached Yungay, it is estimated to have consisted of about 80 million cubic meters (61,000,000 m³) of water, mud, and rocks.