Powerful quake off southern Peru destroys homes, injures 19

ACARI, PERU (BNO NEWS) -- A powerful earthquake that struck just off the coast of southern Peru on Wednesday injured at least 19 people and damaged hundreds of houses, civil defense official confirmed on Thursday, rejecting earlier media reports that several people had been killed.

The 7.0-magnitude earthquake at 11:42 a.m. local time on Wednesday was centered about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Acari, the capital of the district that carries the same name in the southern province of Caravelí. It struck about 40 kilometers (24.9 miles) deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

Marleny Dipas Medina, evaluator at the national emergency operations center of the Civil Defense Institute (INDECI), said in an update on early Thursday that at least 19 people were injured, including eight in Acari district and four in Caraveli district. Among those injured were seven people who were injured at mines in the region.

Several landslides also occurred in the region, with one landslide blocking a road between the districts of Acari and Huanca, but no fatalities were reported. The strong tremors damaged at least 321 houses, including four houses that collapsed and 46 that were left uninhabitable, civil defense officials said. More than 50 educational institutions were also damaged.

Wednesday's earthquake was also felt in the capital Lima and parts of northern Chile.

Peru is on the so-called 'Pacific Ring of Fire', an arc of fault lines circling the Pacific Basin that is prone to frequent and large earthquakes. Most recently, in January 2012, more than 100 people were injured when a strong 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck near the central city of Ica.

And in August 2007, at least 514 people were killed and more than 1,000 others were injured when a massive 8.0-magnitude earthquake struck the central coast of Peru, generating a small tsunami which flooded some areas. Large parts of Ica were devastated by the earthquake.

Peru's most catastrophic earthquake on record happened in May 1970 when a powerful 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck about 36 kilometers (22 miles) off the coast of northwestern Peru, killing at least 66,794 people. More than 50,000 others were injured in the disaster.

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