(Lima) A powerful 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck the Arequipa region in southern Peru on Sunday, the national geophysics institute announced, without causing any casualties, according to Peruvian authorities.
The earthquake, with its epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Caraveli province, in the Arequipa region, occurred at a depth of 25 km, according to the Geophysical Institute of Peru (IGP).
Authorities did not issue a tsunami warning following the earthquake, which occurred at 9:47 a.m. local time (10:47 a.m. Eastern time).
The American Institute of Geophysics (USGS) put the magnitude of the quake at 6.0 and indicated that its epicenter was at a depth of 19.9 kilometers.
“So far, no personal or material damage has been reported,” the National Institute of Civil Protection said in a statement.
The event was perceived as “moderate to strong by the population”, adds the document.
41 km from the epicenter of the earthquake is the small town of Chala, which has around 10,000 inhabitants.
A previous earthquake of magnitude 6.8, which occurred in March 2023 in northern Peru and southern Ecuador, left at least 15 dead and several injured.
On August 15, 2017, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake in the Ica region, 325 km south of Lima, killed more than 500 people.
Peru is located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, a vast zone of seismic activity that stretches along the west coast of the American continent. The country is shaken every year by hundreds of perceptible earthquakes.