Paracas

 

The reserve was established in 1975 to protect the diversity of wildlife and dynamic ecology between the Pacific Ocean and the tropical coastal desert. Approximately one third of the reserve is on land, the rest protects the ocean area.

On August 15th 2007 a magnitude 8.0 earthquake his the central coast of Peru just before midnight. The city of Pisco was almost completely destroyed by the quake (reports say around 80% of the city was destroyed), and nearly 600 people died.

One well known tourist attraction, the Paracas Cathedral rock formation, suffered from the earthquake as can be seen in the photos.

A faultline crack at the Paracas National Reserve

The remains of the Paracas cathedral rock formation

This is how the cathedral rock looked before the earthquake