Pallqaqucha

Pallqaqucha (Quechua pallqa, p'allqa, p'alqa forked, branched, fork, qucha lake, hispanicized spelling Palcacocha) is a glacier lake in the Andes mountain range of South America in northwestern Peru located in the Ancash Region, Huaraz Province.

Location

Pallqaqucha is located at 9°23′49″S 77°22′47″W / 9.39694°S 77.37972°W / -9.39694; -77.37972 in the Ancash Region in Cordillera Blanca at an elevation of 4,566 m, just below the summits of Pallqarahu (6,274 m) and Pukaranra (6,156 m). The lake is one of several lakes supplying the town Huaraz with water, 23 km to the southwest.

Flood Disaster 1941

On the early morning of 13 December 1941 a huge chunk of the adjacent glacier fell into Pallqaqucha causing the breaking of the moraine walls that limit the lake downhill. The wave hurtled down the Cojup valley, destroying another lake on its way Q'iraqucha (Jiracocha) and carrying blocks of ice, large rock boulders and liquid mud towards the Santa River valley. Within 15 minutes the mudslide reached Huaraz, with 400 m³ of debris burying parts of the town and killing approximately 6,000 to 7,000 inhabitants.