7.0 Sagnitude Earthquake Hits Off Peru Coast

LIMA, Peru (AP) — An offshore earthquake with a reported magnitude of 7.0 shook much of Peru on Wednesday but only minor damage and no injuries were reported in the sparsely populated southwestern coastal area near the epicentre. The quake broke windows and opened fissures in the walls of some adobe dwellings in the nearest sizeable town, Acari, its mayor Carlos Mejia told the TV station Canal N. He reported no injuries in the mining town of about 4,000 residents. Sand shook loose by the quake partially blocked a one-mile (two-kilometre) section of the Panamerican Highway, said officer Luis Miguel Vizcarra of the highway patrol in the nearby town of Chala. The quake was felt mildly in Lima, 310 miles (500 kilometres) away and caused swaying in Arequipa, about 170 miles away (300 kilometres). A tsunami warning was not issued. "Most people felt it, not everyone," said Jose Vasquez, deputy director of civil defence in Arequipa. "It lasted a little bit. It wasn't a big shake, just a release, like the movement of a hammock." The quake's epicentre was 28 miles (46 kilometres) south of Acari and it hit at 11:42 am (1642 GMT) at a depth of 27 miles (46 kilometres), the US Geological Survey said.