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Hundreds killed in powerful Peru quake
A powerful 7.9-magnitude earthquake shook Peru's coast near the capital, killing at least 337 people and injuring more 827 others, the Civil Defense said early Thursday.
- Agencies
- Published: 08:10 August 16, 2007
- A resident inspects damages after an earthquake hit the area in Lima on Wednesday.
- Image Credit: Reuters
Lima: A powerful 7.9-magnitude earthquake shook Peru's coast near the capital, killing at least 337 people and injuring more 827 others, the Civil Defense said early Thursday.
Civil Defense Commander Aristides Mussio released the figures on Peru's state television station, saying one person was killed in Lima and 336 in the department of Ica.
Earlier Deputy Health Minister Jose Calderon called the situation "dramatic" in Ica, a city of 650,000 people 265 kms southeast of the capital.
He encouraged Peruvians to donate blood for the injured and said a convoy of doctors and nurses was headed to the Ica area. News reports said dozens of people were crowding
hospitals in the city seeking help even though the hospitals had cracks and other structural damage.
Among the dead were 17 people killed when a church collapsed in Ica, according to cable news station Canal N. Seventy more people were injured in that incident.
The US Geological Survey said Wednesday's powerful earthquake hit at 6:40 p.m. about 145 kilometres southeast of Lima at a depth of about 40 kilometres. Four strong aftershocks ranging from magnitudes of 5.4 to 5.9 were felt afterward.
The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning for the coasts of Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica and Panama. A tsunami watch was issued for the rest of Central America and Mexico and an advisory for Hawaii.
The centre canceled all the alerts after about two hours, but it said the quake had caused an estimated 10-inch tsunami near the epicenter.
"It wasn't big enough to be destructive," said Stuart Weinstein, the center's assistant director.
An Associated Press photographer said some homes had collapsed in the center of Lima and that many people had fled into the streets for safety. The capital shook for
more than a minute.
"This is the strongest earthquake I've ever felt," said Maria Pilar Mena, 47, a sandwich vendor in Lima. "When the quake struck, I thought it would never end."
President Alan Garcia ordered all police personnel to the streets of Lima to keep order and said he was sending the health minister and two other Cabinet members to Ica.
Garcia also said public schools would be closed on Thursday because the buildings may be unsafe.
Police reported that large boulders shook loose from hills and were blocking the Central Highway east of Lima.
Firefighters quoted in radio reports said that many street lights and windows shattered in Lima but did not specify if there were any injuries. Hundreds of workers were evacuated
from Lima office buildings after the quake struck and remained outside, fearing aftershocks.
Callers to Radioprogramas, Peru's main news radio station, said parts of several cities in southern Peru had been hit with blackouts. Callers reported homes in poor neighborhoods in Chincha near Ica had collapsed.
The quake also knocked out telephone service and mobile phone service in the capital. Firefighters were called to put out a fire in a shopping center. State doctors called off a national strike that began on Wednesday to handle the emergency.
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