A “fairly intense ground movement”: the southern coast of Peru shaken by a powerful magnitude 7 earthquake

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimated the magnitude of the earthquake at 7.2 (illustration). Unsplash

A magnitude 7.0 earthquake shook Thursday on the southern coast of Peru, in the department of Arequipa, according to the National Geophysics Institute and the United States Geological Survey (USGS), authorities have not yet responded. having so far reported neither casualties nor damage.

An earthquake of magnitude 7 shook Thursday, June 27, 2024, the southern coast of Peru, in the department of Arequipa, according to the Institute of Geophysics of Peru ( IGP), the authorities having so far reported neither casualties nor damage. The American Geological Survey (USGS) for its part estimated the magnitude of the earthquake at 7.2.

The earthquake, with a depth of 42 kilometers, occurred around 00:36 (05:00:36 GMT) in the Pacific Ocean eight kilometers from the coast of Caraveli located 780 km south of Lima.

Tsunami alert

The Peruvian authorities lifted the tsunami alert triggered a few minutes after the earthquake by the Directorate of Hydrography and Navigation of the Navy.

The Prime Minister, Gustavo Adrianzen, wanted to be reassuring, declaring on RPP radio: "the earthquake has passed, we are currently carrying out the first evaluations and so far there are no deaths to deplore". "We We have ruled out any tsunami warning", he added.

It was a preventive measure because the epicenter of the earthquake was at sea, explained the director of the IGP, Hernando Tavera. He mentioned a "fairly intense movement of the ground which pushed the population to leave their homes".

The earthquake was felt as far away as the capital Lima and over a large part of the southern and central coast of Peru. Its epicenter is located about forty kilometers from Chala, a town of around 10,000 inhabitants. Civil Defense and the government mobilized their emergency planes to assess the damage.

Peru, with a population of approximately 33 million, is located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, a vast zone of seismic activity that stretches across the along the west coast of the American continent. The country is shaken each year by hundreds of perceptible earthquakes.