TOPSHOT-PERU-QUAKE-DAMAGES
TOPSHOT - A child walks near a crack on the ground caused by a quake in Puerto Santa Gema, on the outskirts of Yurimaguas, in the Amazon region, Peru on May 26, 2019. - A powerful 8.0-earthquake struck northern Peru in the early hours of Sunday, toppling houses, blocking roads and knocking out power to some localities. One person was killed and 18 others injured as the shockwave extended into neighboring Ecuador, authorities said. Photo by GUADALUPE PARDO / POOL / AFP Photo credit should read GUADALUPE PARDO/AFP via Getty Images

A 7.5-magnitude earthquake has hit the northern portion of Peru, causing serious damage to homes and resulting in several minor injuries.

7.5-Magnitude Tremors Hit Peru

According to Independent, the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said that the tremor happened in a sparsely populated region of the Amazon rainforest, which is situated around 45 kilometers northwest of the city of Barranca.

Aside from being extremely strong, it was also considered relatively deep underground at a depth around 110 kilometers. The depth of the earthquake limited the damages to infrastructures and casualties but it resulted in tremors being felt in a wider area.

The EMSC received information from multiple accounts of individuals who felt minor quakes also in Colombia, which is situated more than 1,000 kilometers away from the earthquake's epicenter.

Authorities in the neighboring country of Ecuador said that the quake was felt in around 19 of its 24 provinces.

Despite being at the 7.5-magnitude, the earthquake did not cause further panic because the United States Tsunami Warning System said that there was no tsunami expected after the earthquake.

Earthquake Hits Remote Northern Peru

After the earthquake, only three minor injuries were immediately reported to the authorities.

Moreover, authorities in the Chachapoyas province stated that they were affected by the earthquake. A local mayor in Peru stated that a number of houses were damaged by the quake. A church tower, which was a forming part of a 16th-century complex, was reduced to rubble. The complex was considered to be the oldest Catholic temple in the Amazonas region.

The National Civil Defense Institute of Peru said that the earthquake also caused serious damage to an undetermined number of homes in the Amazon districts of San Jeronimo, Leimebamba, and Valera.

Ecuadorian authorities mentioned that there was some damage to homes recorded in the country but there were no reported injuries. No damage was also reported to the 1,100-kilometer oil pipeline of state-owned Petroperu, which crosses the Peruvian Amazon region to the Pacific coast in the northern portion of the country.

The U.S. Geological Survey said that the earthquake took place within the Nazca plate at the Peru-Chile trench. The area was considered by the agency as a place where large earthquakes at this depth were reasonably common.

Furthermore, according to the U.S. government agency, over the past century, there have been five other intermediate-depth earthquakes within 250 kilometers of the epicenter prior to the Sunday tremor with a magnitude of 7 or greater.

The most recent in the list of the U.S. agency was the magnitude 8 earthquake, which struck on May 26, 2019. Based on the government agency, the earthquake killed two people and injured 15 other individuals while damaging hundreds of homes, leaving many families homeless for weeks.

Roads, schools, and temples were damaged in the 2019 magnitude 8-earthquake. Peru's National Emergency Operations Centre said that two road bridges also collapsed during the magnitude 8 quake.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Jess Smith

WATCH: Magnitude 7.5 earthquake strikes northern Peru -Evening Standard