Just in: 7.2 Earthquake magnitude hits Peru
A 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Peru early Friday, injuring at least three people, triggering a tsunami alert and shaking buildings as far as the capital, Lima, about 600 miles away, according to officials.
Peru’s National Seismological Center said the quake struck about a mile off the coast of Peru’s Arequipa region at 12:36 a.m. local time. Several aftershocks were also recorded off Arequipa.
Peruvian authorities issued a tsunami alert on the country’s coast and warned that waves could reach the town of Puerto Atico by 12:52 a.m.
Peru’s Ministry of Health said in a statement that a hospital in the town of Acari, near the epicenter, had treated three people with “minor injuries.” There were reports of landslides, damaged homes and blocked roads.
The U.S.S.G said Peru lies on a plate boundary that stretches across the western coast of South America. The world’s strongest recorded earthquake was a 9.6-magnitude temblor in 1960 along that boundary in Chile.
Meanwhile, the United States Tsunami Warning Center said about an hour later that the tsunami threat had passed.
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