The seismic event with the highest death toll in the Peruvian territory occurred in May of 1970. This earthquake of Mw 7.9 was followed by a large landslide, causing more than 65,000 fatalities. More recently, an earthquake of Mw 8.0 struck the region of Pisco causing 593 fatalities and an economic losses exceeding 1 billion USD. Peru has a high percentage of unreinforced masonry and adobe construction, which has a poor seismic performance even for seismic events of low to moderate magnitude.