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39 Killed, Nearly 400 Injured After Major Quake Rocks Peru
Thirty-nine people have been confirmed dead and nearly 400 others injured in a strong earthquake that hit southern Peru Saturday, and the authorities reported two minor tremors rattled the northern part of the country late Saturday.
The Secretariat of Peruvian Presidency announced that President Valentin Paniagua was traveling to the stricken region and would set up a command post in the southern city of Arequipa to conduct the rescue mission.
The powerful quake, which Peru's Geophysical Institute said had a magnitude of 6.0 on the Richter scale, occurred at 3:40 p.m. local time (20:40 GMT) and had its epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, some 750 kilometers southeast of Lima.
But the US Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center based in Golden, Colorado, said the temblor measured 7.9 degree, one of the strongest in recent years.
The Peruvian Geophysical Institute said Saturday night that two moderate seisms measuring 3 on the Richter scale hit the northern town of Piura at 19:30 p.m. local time (0030 GMT Sunday), but there were no immediate reports of causalities or material damage.
For the moment reports of casualties and damage coming in from southern Peru were still sketchy. Peru's Radioprogram reported that 35 people had died in Moquegua alone, but the figure could not be immediately confirmed.
The Geophysical Institute confirmed that 17 residents of Arequipa were crushed dead by their collapsed houses and more than 170 other townspeople were injured.
In the city of Moquegua, some 100 kilometers southwest of Arequipa, 14 people perished and another dozens were injured.
In Tacna, a city near the border with Chile, Mayor Luis Torres told Radioprogram that the major quake has claimed at least eight lives and injured 200 others.
The quake cut off telephone lines in some southern regions of Peru and sent thousands of residents fleeing their homes in panic.
The quake, which lasted for more than 60 seconds in Peru and 30 to 40 seconds in neighboring Bolivia, was also felt in Lima and some distant Bolivian cities.
In Chile, the most affected city was Arica, 2,000 kilometers north of Santiago, the country's capital.
Chile's Emergency Office spokeswoman Carmen Fernandez said some houses were damaged in the city and power supplies and telephone services were interrupted.
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