One dead after 6.1-magnitude earthquake in Peru

LIMA: A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck Peru on Sunday, killing one person and triggering landslides, officials said.

The quake hit shortly before noon and was centered around 30-kms from Callao, a port city next to the capital Lima, the National Seismological Centre said. The US Geological Survey put the magnitude at 5.6.

Peru said the tremor had not generated a tsunami warning. A man died in Lima when a wall fell on the car he was driving, the National Police said. The TV channel Latina showed footage of landslides in several areas of the capital city.

The quake also prompted a suspension of a major football game being played in Lima. Peru lies on the so-called Ring of Fire, a stretch of intense seismic and volcanic activity around the Pacific basin.

Peru averages at least 100 detectable earthquakes every year. The last big one, in 2021 in the Amazon region, had a magnitude of 7.5, left 12 people injured and destroyed more than 70 homes. A devastating quake in 1970 in the northern Ancash region of Peru killed around 67,000 people.