Northern Peru was hit with a magnitude 8 earthquake on the early hours of Sunday, a number of towns were affected by the strong earthquake, which also led to the power being cut off in one town. Evacuation procedures were also conducted in some cities, the magnitude 8 earthquake was also felt in Ecuador.
No reports of injuries have been reported so far.
USGS released a statement about the incident, it said, “Some casualties and damage are possible and the impact should be relatively localized.”
The statement then added, “typically cause less damage on the ground surface (but)… may be felt at great distance from their epicentres.”
Reports suggest that the tremors were felt in central and northern Peru, which includes Lima, the capital city of the country.
The earthquake was so strong that people ran out of their homes while being terrified after feeling the strong quake.
Arri Pezo, the Mayor of Lagunas, said that most of their city’s residents were scared to go back to their homes as having the fear of aftershocks.
Mayor Pezo said, “You could not walk at the time of the earthquake, things were falling.”
Mayor Pezo added that the electricity supply in their city has also been cut off.
Martin Vizcarra, the Peruvian President, asked the citizens of the country to “to remain calm”.
He added, “We’re evaluating the affected areas.”
The Ministry of the Interior of Peru tweeted about the Magnitude 8 earthquake on their official Twitter account, they said that no injuries and deaths have been reported. But, added that some houses in the country collapsed due to the earthquake.
The mayor of the Yurimaguas, Hugo Araujo, said, “there are many old houses that have collapsed after this strong earthquake.”
Yurimaguas City is near the epicenter of the earthquake.
Seismologists at the Geophysics Institute of Peru said that the earthquake lasted for 2 minutes.
The earthquake measured at 7.5 magnitude, which was earlier assessed at 7.2.
No tsunami warning has been released, this is because “the earthquake is located too deep inside the earth.”