Central Peru Struck By Magnitude 6.9 Earthquake; No Significant Damages or Injuries Reported
A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck central Peru late on Sunday, and no immediate reports have surfaced about significant damage or major injuries.
The U.S. Geological Survey originally estimated the earthquake to be a magnitude 7 but has since downgraded it, according to The Weather Channel.
Mario Casareto, spokesman for Peru's fire agency, said officials are still investigating the areas around the epicenter, and until those are complete, he cannot be sure about damage or casualties caused by the quake.
The earthquake forced people in Peru's Ayacucho region to evacuate their homes and head for a festival ground and caused cellular and power outages in the city of Cusco. Shaking from the quake was reported as far away as Lima, Peru's capital, and Arequipa.
The epicenter of the quake was about 26 miles northeast of a region called Tambo, which is more than 290 miles from Lima. It struck about 36 miles below the Earth's surface.
Earthquakes are fairly common in Peru, as well as Chile and many other countries around that area of the Pacific Ocean, which is known as the Ring of Fire because of its seismic activity. Peru has been regularly hit with some of the most powerful earthquakes on record, according to the USGS.
Peru's earthquake struck just hours after a magnitude 6 earthquake hit near Napa Valley, California, hurting more than 100 people in that area, according to ABC News. Sunday's quake was the strongest to hit California since the 1989 earthquake, which occurred during the World Series that year.
Early damage reports estimate that the quake could eventually cost the area more than $1 billion, especially considering the Napa wine harvest has already started.
The epicenter was about six miles southwest of Napa, California, and 51 miles southwest of the state capital of Sacramento. Several aftershocks followed, and residents on Monday were still wary of further seismic activity.
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