A powerful earthquake struck southern Peru on Thursday, injuring at least two people and damaging dozens of homes and health facilities, authorities said. Officials reported rockfalls, power outages, and structural damage as emergency crews responded to the affected areas.
Peruvian officials said the epicenter was about 22 miles north of Coracora. The USGS placed it 24 miles northwest of Upahuacho. Both locations are in the southern Andes, about 370 miles southeast of Lima.
Coracora, the capital of Parinacochas province, sits at about 10,400 feet above sea level and serves as a government and commercial center for rural communities in the mountainous Ayacucho region.
Peru’s emergency agency, Peru's National Institute of Civil Defense (INDECI), reported at least two injuries, though initial assessments mentioned as many as three. No deaths had been reported as of Thursday evening.
Preliminary assessments found damage to at least 22 homes and 12 health facilities. Cracks appeared in adobe houses in Pullo, and damage was reported at Cusco Regional Hospital and the Pichari Community Mental Health Center. Authorities also checked reports of additional damage near Coracora and a hillside collapse in Apurímac.
Peru’s Navy said that the inland earthquake did not pose a tsunami threat but is monitoring the event.
A magnitude 4.2 aftershock was recorded north of Coracora about three and a half hours later, according to INDECI.
Thursday’s earthquake also came just a month after a magnitude 5.5 quake struck the Andes region of Peru. Peru’s emergency agency linked that disaster and its aftershocks to at least six deaths, injuring more than 30, and displacing 300. That earthquake caused damage to homes, roads, schools, and water infrastructure.
One of Peru’s deadliest earthquakes in recent history struck near Pisco in 2007. The magnitude 7.8 earthquake killed 596 people, while more than 655,000 others were classified as disaster victims across 21 provinces.