A 7.5-magnitude earthquake in northern Peru early this morning damaged a church and some other buildings, blocked a few roads with rockslides, and slightly injured 3 people, ABC News reported on Sunday, November 28, 2021 (story here).
By contrast, the much less powerful 6.9-mag Loma Prieta quake in California in 1989 killed 63, injured 3, collapsed bridges, caused $13 billion of damage (in 2021 dollars), and interrupted a World Series game about to start.
The California quake was shallow and in a heavily populated region. Today’s Peru quake was deep and centered in a barely-populated Amazon basin area. And Peru, of course, isn’t as built-up as California, and doesn’t have World Series baseball games, only soccer riots.
What makes news is how a natural event affects humans, and how close it is to home (not referring to home plate). The Loma Prieta quake was major headlines; today’s Peru quake barely a story.