After waiting for over 30 years (36 to be precise) to reach a World Cup, it’s perhaps understandable that Peru fans got a little boisterous in the wake of Wednesday night’s play-off victory over New Zealand.
The 2-0 win in Lima saw La Blanquirroja snaffle the final available qualification spot for Russia, with Peruvian fans seizing the long-awaited opportunity to celebrate in the neighbouring streets and the plazas all through the night.
Indeed, the intensity of the Peruvian celebrations was sufficient to trigger earthquake warnings in Lima, with the shockwave of jubilation that followed Jefferson Farfan’s opening goal tricking the Sismologia phone app into reporting seismic activity.
Sismologia is the Spanish-language version of a crowd-sourced earthquake detection app which uses people’s devices to detect tremors.
Just seconds after Farfan’s strike rippled the New Zealand net, the Sismo Detector triggered…
#sismo detectado en tiempo real en #ProvinciadeLima #Perú por @SismoDetector. Descarga la app https://t.co/X9AAsPbXNX https://t.co/yb5qXJVMed
— Sismologia Chile (@SismologiaCh) November 16, 2017
Thankfully, researchers at the Seismological Society of America were quick to realise that Lima had not been hit by a magnitude 9 Richter-rumbler but rather a few hundred thousand giddy football fans leaping up and down simultaneously.
Sismologia Chile, the Twitter account linked to the project, quickly sought to allay any concerns.
Increíblemente la detección se produjo en el momento exacto en que #Perú anotó al gol en el partido de repechaje ante #NuevaZelanda. https://t.co/R1TfyRaYoP
— Sismologia Chile (@SismologiaCh) November 16, 2017
“Incredibly, the detection occured at the exact moment Peru scored the goal in the play-off game against New Zealand”
Se confirma que no existe ningún movimiento telúrico natural en Lima. Al parecer la emoción de los peruanos hizo activar la aplicación.
— Sismologia Chile (@SismologiaCh) November 16, 2017
“It is confirmed that there is no natural earthquake in Lima. Apparently the emotion of the Peruvians made the application activate.”
Aclararemos nuevamente lo sucedido, la alerta de @SismoDetector se activó producto de la vibración subterránea generada por la afición.
— Sismologia Chile (@SismologiaCh) November 16, 2017
“To clarify again what happened, the Sismo Detector alert was activated ground vibration generated by the fans.”
Incredible.