6.7-Magnitude earthquake strikes Southern Peru: Tremors felt across several regions

At least three people have been injured and buildings damaged after a strong earthquake struck southern Peru on Thursday, local officials said.

The earthquake had a magnitude of 6.7, according to the US Geological Survey, and struck at around 13:00 local time (18:00 GMT) at a depth of 100 km (62 miles), roughly 31 km (19 miles) north-west of the small settlement of Aniso, in a relatively remote part of the Andes mountain range in the southern Ayacucho region.

The earthquake was felt across several regions of southern Peru, including Ica, Arequipa, Huancavelica, Apurímac and Cusco, as well as in the capital, Lima. The Peruvian Navy ruled out a tsunami threat.

Peru's defence minister, Rafael Belaunde, who has been involved in coordinating the emergency response, said three people were hurt but did not suffer serious injuries, according to the Peruvian newspaper El Comercio. Belaunde also reported damage to 22 homes and six schools. Luis Vásquez, head of Civil Defense, said the injuries occurred while people were evacuating their homes in Coracora, the capital of Parinacochas province, and reported rockfalls on hillsides nearby.

Peru's National Institute of Civil Defence reported damage to 10 healthcare facilities in the Ayacucho region and a further two in neighbouring Cusco, though services at all of them remained operational. It also recorded damage to nine educational facilities, and said around 9,000 properties lost power. Damage was reported across several districts in Ayacucho and Cusco, including the towns of Puquio, Pullo, Coracora, Upahuacho, San Pedro and Pichari.

Earthquakes are common in Peru, which sits at the meeting point of the Nazca and South American tectonic plates, along the Pacific Ring of Fire. Thursday's event originated at considerable depth rather than on a shallow crustal fault. Deep earthquakes of this kind are typically felt across a far wider area than shallow events of similar magnitude, but seismic energy attenuates with distance from the source, which limits the intensity of shaking at the surface.

The country has experienced several devastating earthquakes in the past. In 2007, a 7.9-magnitude earthquake in a province of the Ica region left nearly 600 people dead.

Thursday's earthquake was the latest strong seismic event to hit South America in recent months, following deadly earthquakes in Colombia and Venezuela.