Mendoza - Trees and Earthquakes

Here are some interesting facts about Mendoza:

Population: 130,000
Altitude: 750m a.s.l.
Trees: 390,000 (3 for every resident)
Earthquakes: 40 a day (ok, they are seismic events)
Trolly Bus Lines: 5

I do not think I have been such a forested city. Every street has a wonderful green canopy (almost green - its the very end of winter here), which is fortunate because, architecturally, the city is quite modern. There is a reason for this. Mendoza sits in a seismically active region, near to a fault between two tectonic plates (the Nazca and South American plates), responsible for the formation of the Andean mountain range. Apparently, there are 40 detectable seismic events each day here. But, on 20 March 1861 a 7.2 magnitude earthquake occurred, which destroyed much of the city and killed thousands of it residents.

The new city was rebuilt just south and west of its original location. Much thought was given to the layout of the new city and to the construction of all new buildings. Streets and avenues were made a little wider and many open spaces (plazas and parks) were incorporated. Great, I thought, open green spaces all add to the attractiveness of a place. The primary reason for all of the open space was to have somewhere where the city's residents could escape to in the event of an earthquake. There was another significant earthquake in 1927 with a magnitude of 7.1 and then 1985 to name a few. The '85 quake had a magnitude of 6.2 and caused six fatalities, with over 50,000 residents left homeless. There was a 5.7 quake on 5 August of this year.

I leaned most of the above from Christian, my guide for a visit I made to the roof top terrace of Mendoza's city hall. The first thing you need to do when you arrive in Mendoza is take this quick tour. It is the best introduction to the city and the views are pretty good to!