Overview
- The national Simulacro Nacional Multipeliglo began at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, May 29 and mobilized millions of people, schools, municipal units and emergency agencies to rehearse earthquake, tsunami and landslide responses.
- Minutes after the drill started, the Sismate emergency messaging system sent a nationwide tsunami alert by text and audio to test its technical reach and public reaction.
- Authorities simulated very large quake scenarios between about magnitude 8.0 and 8.8 and presented modeled impacts that ranged from thousands to more than 11,000 projected deaths in some regional exercises to measure strain on rescue and health services.
- The Instituto Geofísico del Perú recorded several small-to-moderate earthquakes in late May, including a M3.7 near Chilca and a M5.0 near Ilo, and reported no immediate real-world casualties or material damage from those events.
- Officials used the drill to push concrete preparedness steps—pack an emergency backpack, identify safe zones and rehearse family evacuation plans—and to argue for stronger response capacity given Peru’s seismic risk, vulnerable soils and low private disaster insurance coverage.