Huge earthquake strikes off Peru

Originally published on September 26, 2013

A magnitude 7 earthquake struck off the coast of Peru on Wednesday.
The US Geological Survey said the quake struck at a depth of 29 miles (40km) under the Pacific Ocean, 29 miles south of the sparsely populated region of Acari in the southern Arequipa region.

"According to Reuters, authorities rushed to rescue miners reportedly trapped in copper pits after the earthquake shook the coast - causing landslides, injuries and possibly deaths in rural provinces, local officials said.

"Officials in the southern Arequipa region said they were told that people died after collapses in make-shift copper mines, which operate largely outside of the law.

"However, they said they could not confirm the deaths.

"'We have heard people have died near the mines Huarato and La Verde, which are small informal copper mines,' Juan Flores, an official with the Acari district government, told Reuters.

"Police and government officials were traveling to the remote mining area to help people reportedly trapped, Flores said.

"Sources with the regional government of Arequipa told Reuters there were reports that three people had died at the mines.

"Details remained sketchy as darkness fell, but the quake also reportedly toppled houses in a sparsely populated province in Peru's southern Arequipa region.

"Peruvian President Ollanta Humala said on RPP radio that around six people had been injured because of the earthquake, and that landslides and electrical blackouts had occurred.

"Locals in Arequipa's Caraveli province reported structural damage.

"A local resident of Acari also told RPP radio that a landslide blocked a highway.

"The quake shook buildings in the capital of Lima 313 miles away.

"Peruvian authorities did not issue any tsunami alerts."

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