7.2 magnitude earthquake shakes the Ayacucho region in Peru

A magnitude 7.2 earthquake shook southern Peru this Thursday, in the Andean region of Ayacucho, with no personal or material damage reported so far. The tremor once again places the seismic focus on the western facade of South America, as it occurs just ten days after the recent 7.4 magnitude earthquake that shook Colombia on August 10.

The epicenter of the Peruvian earthquake was located north of Coracora and the movement, although it was widely perceived in several regions of the country, has not yet left a serious toll of victims or damages. The earthquake occurs after the 7.4 magnitude earthquake that shook western Colombia, with its epicenter in San José del Palmar and about 103 kilometers deep. It is no coincidence: both earthquakes occurred in the most tectonically active region on the planet.

And both Colombia and Peru are part of the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, a huge strip that concentrates a good part of the planet's seismic and volcanic activity. On the western coast of South America, the Nazca plate is introduced under the South American plate, a subduction process that accumulates and releases energy and explains the frequency of large earthquakes in countries such as Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Chile.

What is the Pacific Ring of Fire?

About 90% of all earthquakes recorded on Earth and about 80% of the largest earthquakes occur in this area. And not only that. It is also home to 452 volcanoes and concentrates more than 75% of the active and inactive volcanoes on the planet, making it one of the most unstable from a geological point of view.

The Ring of Fire route begins at the southern tip of America and crosses the Pacific coasts of Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, the United States and Canada.

At the height of the Aleutian Islands, in Alaska, the belt turns towards Asia and descends along the coasts and islands of Russia, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, East Timor, Brunei, Singapore, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Samoa, Tuvalu and New Zealand. Indonesia, specifically, has recorded two large-magnitude earthquakes in 2026, on April 2 and August 15, measuring 7.4 and 7.7 respectively.

Why do so many earthquakes occur?

The intense seismic activity of the Ring of Fire has its origin in the constant movement of the tectonic plates that form the Earth's surface. These huge plates move slowly due to internal processes of the planet and, when they come into contact with each other, they generate an enormous accumulation of energy.

At many points in the belt one plate sinks beneath another in a process known as subduction. This phenomenon causes frequent earthquakes and favors the formation of volcanoes, which is why the Pacific coasts concentrate some of the most intense seismic and volcanic episodes in the world.