Peru is one of South America's most earthquake-prone countries because the Nazca Plate subducts beneath the South American Plate along the Peru-Chile Trench off its Pacific coast. This subduction has thrust up the Andes and generates powerful offshore megathrust earthquakes, while also feeding a belt of volcanoes across the country's southern highlands.
Southern Peru hosts active volcanoes such as Ubinas, the country's most active, and Misti, which looms over the city of Arequipa. Peru's history is marked by catastrophic earthquakes, above all the 1970 Ancash earthquake, whose magnitude 7.9 shock triggered a massive landslide that buried the town of Yungay and killed around 70,000 people, the deadliest natural disaster in the nation's history.