LIMA, Jan 8 — A 5.6-magnitude earthquake rattled Peru’s capital and surrounding areas yesterday, leaving at least nine people injured and some homes damaged, authorities said.
The quake was registered at 5.27am (1027 GMT), with its epicentre 19 kilometres (12 miles) northeast of Lima at a depth of 116 kilometres, according to the Geophysical Institute of Peru (IGP).
Some people in the capital fled their shaking homes in panic.
Civil defence authorities reported nine people injured, including one person seriously, and damage to three homes in the San Juan de Lurigancho and Ate areas, east of Lima.
A major highway linking the capital to central Peru was blocked by fallen rocks.
“Thankfully, we haven’t counted any deaths,” National Emergency Operations Centre coordinator Rolando Capucho told TV channel N.
One man, Jeison Arapa, 28, was injured when he fell from the third floor of his home while trying to evacuate, civil defence authorities said.
Capucho also said three children were trapped in a home after the quake but had since been rescued.
IGP director Hernando Tavera said the shaking was intense due to the depth of the quake.
“It is possible that this moderate-magnitude event has generated, in high areas, rockfalls and landslides on roads and in valleys, and even possible damage to precarious homes,” he said in a statement on the institute’s website.
The quake was felt in the provinces of Canete and Chincha to the south of Lima, and in the port city of Chimbote nearly 400 kilometres to the capital’s north. No tsunami threat was registered.
“People of Peru, let us remain calm but let us be prepared for any aftershock,” President Pedro Castillo said on Twitter.
A 7.5-magnitude quake shook the Amazon region in northern Peru in November, destroying 117 homes, injuring 12 people and leaving more than 2,000 without a roof over their heads.
Peru experiences at least 400 perceptible earthquakes every year.
It is located in the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire — an area of seismic activity that extends along the west coast of the American continent.
A powerful 7.9-magnitude quake struck Peru’s central coast on August 15, 2007, causing more than 500 deaths. — AFP
