Earthquake in Peru kills 6 and displaces hundreds

By MITRA TAJ

Six people were killed and at least 20 were injured by an earthquake that hit the central highland region of Peru, authorities said Sunday.

The quake struck in the Junín region, near the rural district of Chongos Bajos, at 9:24 p.m. Saturday, damaging or destroying dozens of houses and forcing about 300 people to take refuge in a sports stadium because of aftershocks, according to Peru’s National Institute of Civil Defense.

The quake also damaged the town’s 16th-century church and chapel, according to a local broadcaster, RPP.

It was a relatively shallow quake, with a reported depth of just 6.2 miles, according to the United States Geological Survey, which reported its magnitude as 5.5. (Peru’s National Geophysical Institute reported a magnitude of 5.1 and a depth of about 15 miles.)

The quake was the biggest to hit Peru’s central highlands since 1969, when temblors of 5.9 and 6 magnitude shook the region, Hernando Tavera, head of Peru’s Geophysical Institute, told a local TV channel, América Televisión.

So far this year, 450 earthquakes have been detected in Peru, about average for the quake-prone country, Tavera said.

Saturday’s quake cut off the electricity in towns near the epicenter, and several villages remained without access to power Sunday, the head of the National Institute of Civil Defense, Luis Vásquez, said on the TV program Exitosa Noticias.

Tavera said that traditional adobe and straw homes common in the Andes were particularly vulnerable to collapse.