List of natural catastrophes and accidents in the areas we visited around the time we visited.
Flight over the Nazca lines, Peru (with Aero Condor) - January 29. 2010.
A month later: 2010. February 25: 7 people died in a plane crash over the Nazca lines (the same plane had an emergency landing in 2008)
Other sightseeing plane accidents at Nazca
2008 April: 5 French people died, the pilot survived
2010. October: 6 people died: 4 British and 2 Peruvians
In March 2010 the following story could be read on Lonely Planet Forum:
”Auhtorities have sent a large team
of sixteen aviation safety inspectors to Nazca. This Friday and
Saturday, they inspected all the 48 planes at Nazca and initially
grounded ALL of them. The very first appraisal was that at least two
thirds were not in good conditions.
Today, they declared 7 planes
airworthy and compliant with regulations, and they can fly again. All
other planes remain grounded. The cleared planes are: Aero Diana (1),
Aero Paracas (2), Alas Peruanas (2) and Travel Air (2).”
Visiting Machu Picchu cancelled
We were planning to go to Cusco, the closest big town to Machu Picchu after we entered Peru from Ecuador: 26. January. Originally we were thinking about going through the Cordillera Blanca and do some trekking there, but it was the rainy season, and after we talked to people who had just been there, we decided to go down south along the cost to Arequipa and go to Cusco from there.
January 26: flooding in Peru, Machu Picchu area, state of emergency declared, about 2000 tourist were trapped in Aguas Calientes and had to be evacuated by helicopters
3 days boat trip in the Halong Bay, Vietnam - July 12-14. 2010.
3 days later on July 17 a typhoon hits Vietnam, including the Halong Bay area. All boat trips are canceled and the ongoing trips are interrupted as all boats are called back to the port.
Sleeping soundly in San Pedro de Atacama – February 27. 2010.
We were in San Pedro de Atacama sleeping soundly on the 27th of February, when at 03:34 am the seventh strongest earthquake ever measured, hit Chile. It was a huge quake with a magnitude of 8.8. Later we learned that it actually displaced the whole city of Concepción, closest to the epicenter by 3 meters to the west and Santiago by 24 centimeters. Quite unbelievable. However, we did not notice anything as we were about 1500 km away from the epicenter. In the morning we went to the bus station and bought a ticket to Santiago for the afternoon. After that we heard about the catastrophe. Next day, arriving to Valparaiso we heard about the tsunami warning that has been in effect that day.
Just a month later on March 26, at 10:52:06 local time, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake hit the Atacama region, in Northern Chile.
On the Peruvian buses December 24-29. 2009, January 26-February 13 2010.
Busrides in Peru seem to be quite prone to accidents.
10 Jan 2009 Thirty-two people were killed and 25 others injured when a bus skidded off a rain-slicked mountain road.
July 31 2009. At least 17 people died after a bus crash in Quiquijana District in Peru. The bus was from Arequipa and the destination was Cusco.
23 Aug 2009 A bus crash in Peru's southern Andes mountains has left 22 people dead and 31 injured. Among the dead are two Dutch tourists.
25 Dec 2009 At least 40 people killed after bus plunges into ravine in southern Andes mountains.
22 Feb 2010 At least 38 people are killed and more than 50 others injured as two buses collide head-on in Peru.
13 Apr 2010 The death toll of a bus accident near Titicaca Lake, south of Peru, rose to 15, the police said on Monday.
11 Aug 2010 Authorities in northwestern Peru have identified the 24 people who died Tuesday when a bus plunged into a ravine.
Interesting statistics about road fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants per year (Wikipedia) in the countries we visited:
Argentina 13.7
Australia 6.8
Bolivia 16.7
Botswana 33.8
Brazil 18.3
Cambodia 12.1
Chile 13.7
China 16.5
Ecuador 11.7
Estonia 15.2
Hungary 9.9
India 16.8
Indonesia 16.2
Kenya 34.4
Laos 18.3
Malawi 26.0
Malaysia 24.1
Namibia 28.6
New Zealand 8.6
Papua New Guinea 14.2
Peru 21.5
Rwanda 31.6
South Africa 33.2
Thailand 19.6
Uganda 24.7
United Kingdom 3.59
United Republic of Tanzania 34.3
Viet Nam 16.1
Zambia 25.6