Volcanoes

Key:
Grey - Extinct
Green - Dormant
Yellow - Minor Activity
Red- Erupting

In total, Peru has 16 volcanoes. Most of them being dormant (12 of them) and stratovolcanoes (11 of them). All of the volcanoes are located in Southern Peru. Three of the volcanoes are currently active. Two of which have minor activity/ eruption warning and one is currently erupting. [Click on map to enlarge.]

The volcano that is currently erupting is Sabancaya. [Bottom Left] Sources say that it started erupting on November 6, 2016 and is still erupting. It has only been erupting gas-and-ash plumes which, is still not dangerous because inhaling it can cause breathing and lung problems. 

Peru currently has monitoring equipment and volcanic hazard maps. From the research I have done, there are only four volcanoes that are being monitored. Two of them currently active, one that is currently dormant but one of the most active in the past, and the last one is actually lava domes. When a volcano erupts, Peru declares a state of emergency and starts a mass evacuation. I am assuming they spread the news through different media outlets but, I could not find an article to confirm that.

References:
Express | Peru volcanoes explode into life triggering state of emergency and MASS EVACUATION

Global Volcanism Program | Sabancaya

World Organization of Volcano Observatories

Volcano Discovery | Volcanoes of Peru

Earthquakes

As I stated last week, Peru sits on the boundary between the Nazca Plate and the South American Plate. These plates created the Andes Mountains and the volcanic chain. Because of Peru's location and the convergent boundary, earthquakes are quite common. The Nazca Plate moves approximately 65-80 millimeters per year depending on the area (USGS). So far this year, there has been 17 earthquakes in Peru with magnitudes ranging from 4.2 - 7.1(IRIS).

Screenshot from the USGS pdf

What is Peru doing to prevent a catastrophe? According to FEMA, Peru is... "working cooperatively with local organizations, various levels of government and NGOs [non-governmental organizations] to minimize disaster occurrence." It has created many publications about emergency management and has partnered up with the Intermediate Technology Development Group for recovery/reconstruction assistance. 


References:

FEMA; "Peru: An Andean Country with Significant Disaster and Emergency Management Challenges"

IRIS; "Latest Earthquakes in the S America Region"

USGS; "Seismicity of the Earth 1900–2013Seismotectonics of South America (Nazca Plate Region)"