12 injured in Peru earthquake, more than 2,400 people displaced

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Issued on: 11/29/2021 – 18:52 Average: 11/29/2021 – 18:50

Lima (AFP) – An earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale in northern Peru injured 12 people and destroyed 117 homes, authorities announced Monday.

The earthquake, which occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning and sent shock waves across the region, also flattened five churches and damaged a clinic and about 1.5 kilometers of roads.

The quake was felt in nearly half of the country, including coastal regions, the Andes and the capital, Lima. It also caused damage in neighboring Ecuador.

The epicenter was 98 kilometers east of the small Peruvian town of Santa Maria de Neiva in the Peruvian Amazon – a sparsely populated area inhabited by indigenous people, many of whom live in wooden and mud houses, which have collapsed.

The 14-meter (45-foot) tower of a colonial-era church in La Jalca, also in the Amazon region, has collapsed.

Widespread power outages were reported, and roads were cut off by rocks discovered by the earthquake.

“We’ve all taken to the streets, we’re so scared,” a listener named Lucia told RPP Radio from the northern town of Chota.

‘you are not alone’

“All my solidarity with the people of Amazonas in the face of the powerful earthquake,” Peruvian President Pedro Castillo, who was at the site of the earthquake on Monday, said on Twitter.

The authorities announced that the earthquake that hit northern Peru destroyed 117 homes – the Peruvian Presidency / Agence France-Presse

“You are not alone, brothers.”

The president said there were “people waiting to be rescued” in remote bush villages, and promised that the government would provide food and tents.

Castillo said he had ordered all relevant ministries to “take immediate action.”

The president noted that there are still “people waiting to be rescued” in the jungle villages.

In Lima, more than 1,000 kilometers south of the epicenter, the quake was felt with less force, but it lasted long enough to prompt some people to seek shelter on the street outside.

Map of Peru locating earthquakes that occurred on November 28, 2021 AFP

The Peruvian capital, with a population of 10 million, was shaken hours before a 5.2-magnitude earthquake.

US observers did not issue any tsunami warning.

Peru experiences at least 400 perceptible earthquakes every year.

It is located in the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire – a region of extensive seismic activity that stretches along the western coast of the American continent.

A 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck the central coast of Peru on August 15, 2007, killing more than 500 people.

© 2021 AFP

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